Miami Herald
Violent rains kill four, destroy homes
Posted at 7:15 a.m. EST Tuesday, December 26, 2000
HAVANA -- Four days of driving rain claimed three lives, triggered the
collapse of dozens of homes and left serious crop damage, local media reported
Monday.
A 41-year-old Havana woman was electrocuted by a toppled power line, and a
60-year-old man drowned in the capital's El Cerro neighborhood.
Firemen had to use a helicopter to retrieve the body of an unidentified
victim from the storm-stirred surf just off Havana's Malecón seafront.
Elián trust may owe the IRS
Money was to go to cancer league
By Luisa Yanez. lyanez@herald.com. Published Wednesday,
December 27, 2000, in the Miami Herald
The Elián González Legal Defense Trust Fund, formed to help a
Miami family's attorneys battle the federal government, may make its single
biggest payment to Uncle Sam.
After more than a month of wrangling, the trustees decided last week that
they could not donate as much as $140,000 left over from the fund to the
nonprofit La Liga Contra el Cancer (the League Against Cancer).
The trust fund could owe as much as $92,000 in income tax, its legal
advisor, Stanton Levin, confirmed Tuesday.
The tax predicament surprised the three trustees, who have held several
meetings in the last weeks trying to come up with a solution. They hope to
persuade the Internal Revenue Service not to tax the trust.
"Can you imagine if after all this, the U.S. government is the one that
gets to keep this money?'' asked lead trustee Eloy Gonzalez.
The fund was created in March at Ocean Bank to help pay the expenses of the
team of attorneys involved in the custody battle over the 6-year-old boy.
The last-minute tax quandary stems from the interpretation of the "true
intent'' of those who made the donations, ranging from $1 to $10,000.
Among the donors were Florida sugar magnates Alfy and Pepe Fanjul, who
chipped in $10,000, and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who gave $1,000 from his
campaign coffers.
"It's an unusual situation,'' said Levin, a Coral Gables tax attorney
who oversees the trust.
"The issue is whether or not the money donated by people should be
viewed as a gift or income for a cause they could get something in return for.
There is no precedent on this. The closest factual situation we can compare it
to is the Clinton Legal Defense Fund.''
In that case, the Clintons may have to pay taxes on the $11 million
collected on their behalf to pay for their legal fees during the Paula Jones
sexual harassment suit, impeachment, the investigation of the Clintons'
Whitewater real estate dealings in Arkansas and other matters.
In the Clinton case, despite calls by Republicans that Clinton be audited
over the legal defense money, the IRS has not taken action.
Levin said he hopes to convince the government that the money to the Elián
Defense Trust Fund was a gift and nontaxable.
"There is no way we can look at a donor's heart,'' Levin said. "We
think there is a better than 50-50 chance that the IRS will decide the donations
are gifts.''
For now, the trustees plan to deposit $92,000, along with the tax return,
with the IRS by late January.
They also plan to include an explanation of the facts and to ask the IRS to
review the tax return as quickly as possible.
By volunteering the money, Levin said the trust fund would avoid interest
and penalties, which would otherwise be charged, he said.
Levin said the trust fund's tax return is not due until April 15, but in
anticipation of the tax bill, he said the fund will send the form three months
early.
"We haven't had any contact with the IRS, but this falls under the tax
rules of any other trust fund. It all depends on how they interpret it,'' Levin
said.
A spokesman for the IRS's taxpayers' advocates office in Fort Lauderdale
could not be reached Tuesday night. Neither could a Florida region spokesman.
Already, $70,000 has been paid for the legal expenses of the attorneys who
worked pro bono on the case.
The league, which helps pay for the medical expenses of many without
insurance, was to have received its first installment -- $100,000 -- last month
during a ceremony honoring the attorneys.
The event at the Dade County Auditorium was canceled at the last minute when
lead attorney Kendall Coffey began working for Al Gore's campaign in the
post-election recount fight.
Coffey's move angered supporters of Elián's Miami relatives, who felt
betrayed by the Clinton administration and campaigned against Gore.
For its part, the League Against Cancer has refused to take the money and
deal with the tax problem.
Havana cleans up from that damaged 135 homes, killed 2
Posted at 12:59 p.m. EST Tuesday, December 26, 2000
HAVANA -- (AP) -- Workers in Cuba's capital were clearing debrus from major
thoroughfares on Tuesday after heavy weekend rains that were blamed for two
deaths and damage to at least 135 homes in Havana's older neighborhoods.
The Communist Party daily Granma daily reported that ``the situation is
normalizing'' in Havana after the rains that drenched the capital over the
Christmas weekend.
During the 24-hour period beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, an average of 6.9
inches of rain fell on Cuban capital.
The newspaper quoted Juan Oliveros, an aide to Havana Provincial Council,
that there had been reports of 135 homes damaged by the heavy rains, including
the collapse of 25 structures. The worst damage was reported in the older
neighborhoods of Old Havana and Central Havana, Oliveros said.
Oliveros said two people were killed during the rains, a 41-year-old woman
who stepped on a fallen electrical cable and a 60-year-man who drowned in an
irrigation ditch.
He said authorities were trying to determine how many families would be
unable to return to their homes because of the storm damage.
Cuba's Meteorological Institute on Sunday afternoon announced that no more
heavy rains were expected in Havana in the coming days, but noted that the
weather was expected to be cool and cloudy and some additional precipitation was
possible.
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