The Miami Herald.
November 23, 2001.
Riceland Foods' first-sale shipments to Cuba to start soon
STUTTGART, Ark. -- (AP) -- Riceland Foods president Richard E. Bell says
shipments will begin in December or January of the first rice to be sold to Cuba
in nearly 40 years.
Riceland, along with Archer Daniels Midland Co. and several other food
processors, has agreed to sell Cuba grains and soybeans after the Caribbean
country was devastated by Hurricane Michelle.
Last year, the rice-processing cooperative based at Stuttgart donated 20
tons of rice to Cuba to help residents in an area devastated by a drought.
But this year, Cuba declined a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid after the
hurricane destroyed crops and thousands of homes and killed five people on Nov.
4. Instead, the Cuban import agency Alimport proposed a one-time cash purchase
of American food and medicine.
"I view the current sales of U.S. agricultural products to Cuba as
symbolic as well as humanitarian. I hope it is the first step toward continuing
trade,'' Bell said Wednesday.
Bell says Riceland expects to provide at least half of the rice to be sold
to Cuba in the deal. Riceland will be selling the long-grain variety to the
Cubans, he said.
But Bell declined to say how much rice Cuba is buying. If that information
is to be made public, he said, it should come from the customer, not his
company.
"Riceland has been a long-time and consistent proponent of lifting U.S.
restrictions on trade with Cuba,'' Bell said.
Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo since shortly after Fidel Castro's
government defeated the CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
Congress approved food exports to Cuba in 2000, though it prohibited U.S.
financing of the transactions. Cuban purchases of U.S. medical supplies have
been legal since 1992.
Cuba had said it would not buy any food until the sanctions were eased more,
but Castro softened that stance after the hurricane struck.
Bell said the purchase would be paid for in "hard dollars.'' He said
Riceland's marketing vice president for Latin America, Terris Harris, was in
Havana on Wednesday concluding the contract for the sale.
Harris led the company's efforts to enter into the deal, Bell said.
Miami lawyer gets nod for U.S. attorney
By David Kidwell. dkidwell@herald.com
Miami lawyer Marcos Daniel Jiménez -- a childhood Cuban immigrant who
graduated atop his class at the University of Miami and went on to defend
clients ranging from Guantanamo Bay refugees to Coca-Cola -- is the White
House's choice to become the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of
Florida.
The nomination, which the White House has not yet announced, ends months of
speculation about whether interim U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis, a very popular and
well-respected career prosecutor, had the political juice to keep the job
permanently.
Jiménez, 42, a partner in the law firm of White & Case and a
federal prosecutor in Miami for four years, was on the team that represented
George W. Bush in last year's presidential election recount fight. Jiménez's
supporters say his nomination was grounded more in his qualifications as a
lawyer than his political connections.
"It was a good choice,'' said state Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat and
longtime federal prosecutor. "Marc was a front-line prosecutor for years.
He's got a great record of public service. He's got the intellect for the job
and a healthy respect for the power of that office.''
No date has been set for Jiménez's confirmation hearings before the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Lewis, 40, a federal prosecutor for 13 years, was named interim U.S.
attorney 18 months ago when his mentor and boss, Thomas Scott, resigned to go
into private practice.
On Wednesday, Lewis was met with standing ovations -- and some tears -- when
he gathered his staff to tell them he had received the long-dreaded phone call.
He had wanted the job very much, but he had known from the beginning that he
faced an uphill battle.
"He told everybody how proud he was to serve with them,'' said one
prosecutor at the gathering. "He said he had already called Marc and wished
him well. He said all the right things, but that doesn't make it any easier.
People were crying.''
Neither Jiménez nor Lewis would discuss the nomination. Both were
asked by Bush administration officials to wait to talk until the nomination
becomes formal following an FBI background check.
Jiménez is expected to take over the job early next year once the
nomination is formally sent to the Senate.
Interviews with friends and colleagues on Wednesday suggest that changes
within the U.S. attorney's office, at least at first, may be undetectable.
Jiménez is described as a very thoughtful and deliberate manager, not
prone to make hasty changes. And he is aware of the trust Lewis has gained both
within and outside his office.
"Of course, Marc knows the great job Guy has done,'' said Peter Prieto,
a Jiménez friend and the executive partner in the Miami office of Holland
& Knight. "The point is, we are going from one wonderful U.S. attorney
to another.''
Jiménez handles mostly white-collar and commercial litigation. He is
representing Coca-Cola Co. in a lawsuit filed by unions about alleged unfair
labor practices in Colombian bottling plants.
From 1989 through 1992, he was an assistant U.S. attorney, handling
narcotics, fraud and money-laundering cases. Prior to his departure for private
practice, he was promoted to deputy chief of the major crimes unit.
A major part of his career has focused on pro bono work. In 1996, he
received an award from the state Supreme Court for his service as a lead trial
lawyer in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Cuban refugees detained at Guantanamo
Bay Naval Station in Cuba.
Jiménez is very active in his church, University Baptist, where he
sits on planning committees. Jiménez and Lewis both attend University
Baptist. Jiménez also sits on the board of directors for Baptist Hospital
and several charities.
Jiménez's friends also say he has a fascination with anything to do
with President Abraham Lincoln.
"He loves Lincoln,'' Gelber said. "I've always thought it was
funny, but every time he goes to Washington he has to make this pilgrimage to
the Lincoln Memorial. It's just something he has to do.''
During interviews for the job, Jiménez named as priorities domestic
terrorism, public corruption and prosecution of white-collar crime -- priorities
shared by his predecessor.
Both men enjoyed bipartisan support. Lewis had won the respect of the black
community with his prosecutions of civil rights cases -- most importantly the
indictments of 13 Miami police officers accused of covering up questionable
shootings.
"The black community was very encouraged by the leadership of Guy Lewis
to look intensively into police corruption,'' Miami lawyer H.T. Smith said. "All
we can do now is hope and pray Marc Jiménez will continue what Guy
started.''
Lewis won accolades from the Cuban community for prosecutions of Cuban spies
and an investigation of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. And because Lewis came up
through the ranks of the office, he had the respect of his prosecutors.
He even won the respect of many of his courtroom adversaries.
"Yes, I'm disappointed,'' said Albert Krieger, a longtime defense
lawyer in Miami. "Especially now, when this community is going through so
much. The continuity would have been of great importance. The new U.S. attorney
will have to start from square one.''
Jiménez has high-powered support of his own. In addition to his
brother Frank -- Gov. Jeb Bush's deputy chief of staff -- Jiménez scored
a letter of recommendation from one of the most prominent Democrats in the
state, lawyer Chesterfield Smith.
"I am impressed with his personal characteristics,'' Smith wrote in a
July 12 letter to Sen. Bill Nelson. "He is a decent and honest man who
carries a healthy respect for the position . . . In sum, he is a keeper.''
Jiménez eager to help needy
By Paul Brinkley-Rogers. pbrinkley-rogers@herald.com
Marcos Daniel Jiménez, a devout churchgoer and hard-charging legal
dynamo, has had a penchant for helping the embattled -- including George W.
Bush.
He came to the aid of Cuban refugees detained at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo in 1994, receiving a public service award from the Florida Supreme
Court given to the volunteer group of lawyers he helped lead.
But last December, the 42-year-old former federal prosecutor fought a
different kind of battle. The Republican was a member of the president's legal
team as it fought off legal challenges from Democrats contesting Bush's narrow
presidential vote margin in Florida.
Jiménez, a partner with White & Case and nominee for the job of
U.S. attorney for South Florida, declined to comment Wednesday.
Friends laud his pro bono work for the poor and the disadvantaged and credit
his parents -- his father was a commercial artist in Havana, and his mother was
a homemaker -- with instilling in him a strong moral foundation. He grew up in
West Miami and graduated from Miami Christian High School.
Jiménez, who came to the United States in 1961 as an 18-month-old
refugee from his birthplace of Havana, has had a star-studded career, his
colleagues say.
He served as an assistant U.S. attorney for four years, handling cases such
as U.S. embargo prosecutions, criminal intellectual property cases, and tax and
currency reporting matters.
Jiménez, a 1983 graduate of the University of Miami Law School who
often uses "Marc'' as a first name, will now direct more than 240 federal
prosecutors at the busiest jurisdiction outside of Washington, D.C.
"I think he's going to be a terrific U.S. attorney,'' said Kendall
Coffey, who held that office as a Democrat. "I tried to hire him back to
the office when I was U.S. attorney because he was so good, but he stayed in
private practice.''
Jiménez has served on the board of Miami's Baptist Hospital, and for
the last two years has been trying to help the University Baptist Church of
Coral Gables, where he worships, find a solution to its growing pains.
"He's always displayed an interest in working for the community,'' said
criminal defense lawyer Jose Quiñon. "He's not afraid to take on a
cause.''
Miami attorney Frank Angones said Jiménez joined an all-star team of
63 lawyer volunteers when he came to the aid of the Cuban refugees.
"He was primarily responsible for legal matters going to the court on a
daily basis,'' Angones said. "At one point, his work helped stop a
planeload of refugees being sent back 19 minutes before it was to take off.''
Harold Hongju Koh, a professor of international law at Yale University,
worked with Jiménez during that struggle.
"He coordinated that team,'' he said. "For a year he was under
intense pressure. He has a tremendous patriotism and he was able to bring it
off.''
Jon Sale, a Miami lawyer who is a former chief assistant U.S. attorney and
Watergate prosecutor, said Marcos Jiménez has the skill to run an office
in a region known for its complex -- and sometimes politically sensitive --
prosecutions.
"It is a job for a diplomat, a manager and a lawyer,'' Sale said,
referring to the challenge Jiménez will face coordinating the South
Florida arm of the national war on terrorism while tackling South Florida's
festering public corruption problem.
"He is very capable.''
Herald staff writer David Kidwell contributed to this report.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
