Yahoo! News
December 17, 2001.
No Judges to Hear Cuban Travel Cases
By Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Accused in 1996 of illegally traveling to Cuba, piano
tuner Ben Treuhaft has waited for his day in a court that does not exist.
The government has not hired a single judge or held a single hearing, nine
years after Congress granted the right to civil hearings for anyone alleged to
have violated the Cuba travel ban.
As of September, 357 cases were pending, some from as far back as 1995, said
a congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Treasury Department (news - web sites) says its Office of Foreign Assets
Control, or OFAC, is trying to resolve the problem but has seen its efforts set
back since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The agency has a leading role in
tracing terrorists' assets.
Unlike Treuhaft, most of those awaiting hearings are not complaining. People
who negotiated settlements have paid fines averaging $7,500, while Treuhaft and
others whose cases have been delayed have not yet had to pay a cent.
"There haven't been people pounding on OFAC's door saying they want a
hearing,'' said Tom Miller, Treuhaft's attorney. "It's not like a civil
rights demand.''
But some lawyers say the delays could make it more difficult to defend their
clients if hearings eventually are held.
"It is possible that critical evidence and critical witnesses will
become unavailable,'' said Nancy Chang, senior litigation attorney for the
Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of those accused of
violating the ban.
The ban is part of the 4-decade-old embargo aimed at forcing democratic
changes on Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s communist island. By prohibiting
the spending of money in Cuba, the ban effectively bars travel by most
Americans. Exceptions are made for working journalists, relatives of Cuban
citizens and other categories of visitors.
Under a 1992 law tightening the embargo, Congress granted the right to an
administrative hearing to anyone accused of violating the travel ban. A few
years later, the Treasury office changed its rules to set up proceedings for
hearings.
Treuhaft said he wants a hearing so he can take a stand against the embargo.
The New York City man has helped send more than 100 pianos to Cuba through his "Send
a Piana to Havana'' campaign. Though he has held several licenses allowing him
to visit Cuba, he did not have one for a 1994 trip when he got caught. He faces
a $10,000 fine.
He is accused of illegally donating piano supplies, spending money in Cuba
and accepting pay for tuning pianos there. Treuhaft mocks the accusations,
saying the United States is trying to bring Cuba to its knees by forcing Cubans
to listen to out-of-tune instruments.
In 1998, Treuhaft's lawyer told him the government had agreed to a $3,500
settlement. Treuhaft said he did not seriously consider the offer.
"I said yes. Absolutely. When are they going to pay me the $3,500?'' he
said.
Embargo supporters are not amused.
Rep. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said the travel ban has been undermined by OFAC's
lack of resources. "The lack of enforcement of any law, I would certainly
say in terms of the Cuba sanctions, invites lawlessness to take place,'' he
said.
OFAC is a small agency whose responsibilities have grown in recent years as
sanctions have become a more popular foreign-policy tool. It already had a
central role in tracing terrorist assets when, after Sept. 11, it became the
home of the new Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center.
In a statement, Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto said the attacks "clearly
slowed down this process'' of reducing the backlog. But, he added: "We are
confident that a workable, cost-effective procedure will be put in place to
address this issue.''
OFAC director R. Richard Newcomb said last year that the lack of
administrative law judges was "an issue substantially relating to budget.''
The backlog began to mount during the Clinton administration, which had
loosened the travel ban to encourage contacts between Americans and ordinary
Cubans.
President Bush (news - web sites) strongly supports the embargo and in July
ordered increased enforcement. Cuban-American exiles are major supporters of the
president and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who faces re-election next
year.
Sinn Fein Leader Adams Visits Cuba
HAVANA (AP) - Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams arrived in Cuba for a visit
intended to focus on remembering participants of a dramatic Irish Republican
Army (news - web sites) hunger strike 20 years ago.
During the four-day visit that began Sunday, Adams was expected to meet with
President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) and thank him for his solidarity with
the hunger strikers in Northern Ireland. A ceremony will be held to remember the
ten prisoners who starved themselves to death during the protest.
Adams, whose Irish Republican Army-linked party plays down its socialist
politics during fund-raising tours to the United States, originally planned to
visit Cuba in October. The visit was delayed after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
Adams and several party deputies also planned to meet with other Cuban
officials and visit a local hospital and university during their stay.
The trip was expected to provide political fodder for Castro's enemies in
Miami's Cuban exile community, who continually try to link the communist
government here with terrorism.
Havana officially halted all financial and technical support of
revolutionary movements more than a decade ago.
The visit is also expected to refocus attention on the cases of three
suspected IRA activists being held without charges in Colombia, where they were
arrested in August on suspicion of training Marxist rebels. Among them is Niall
Connolly, Sinn Fein's Havana-based representative for Latin America.
Adams initially denied that Connolly was a Sinn Fein official, then said
Connolly had been appointed to the post without his knowledge.
Lengthy Backlog of Cuba Travel Cases
By Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nine years after Congress granted the right to civil
hearings for anyone accused of violating the Cuba travel ban, no judges have
been hired and no hearings have been held.
As of September, 357 cases were pending, some of which date to 1995, said a
congressional aide, who provided the figure on condition of anonymity. Piano
tuner Ben Treuhaft, for example, has waited for his day in court since being
accused in 1996 of illegally traveling to the communist island.
The Treasury Department (news - web sites), which oversees the ban, did not
respond to repeated requests for details about the backlog or how many cases
have been resolved without hearings.
The department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control is trying to
resolve the problem, but its efforts have been set back since the terrorist
attacks.
In addition to enforcing embargoes, the office has a leading role in tracing
terrorists' assets.
Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto said the terrorist attacks "clearly
slowed down this process'' of addressing the backlog but "we are confident
that a workable, cost-effective procedure will be put in place to address this
issue.''
Most of those awaiting hearings are not complaining about the delay. People
who negotiated settlements have paid fines averaging $7,500, while Treuhaft and
others in his situation have not paid a cent.
"There haven't been people pounding on OFAC's door saying they want a
hearing,'' said Tom Miller, Treuhaft's attorney.
But some lawyers say the delays could make it harder to defend their clients
if hearings are held eventually.
"It is possible that critical evidence and critical witnesses will
become unavailable,'' said Nancy Chang, senior litigation attorney for the
Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many of those accused of
violating the ban.
The ban is part of the four-decade old embargo aimed at forcing democratic
changes in Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s country. By prohibiting the
spending of money in Cuba, the ban effectively bars travel by most Americans.
Exceptions are made for working journalists, relatives of Cuban citizens and
others.
Under a 1992 law tightening the embargo, Congress granted the right to an
administrative hearing to anyone accused of violating the travel ban. A few
years later, the Treasury office set up proceedings for hearings.
Treuhaft said he wants a hearing so he can take a stand against the embargo.
The New York City man has helped send more than 100 pianos to Cuba through his "Send
a Piana to Havana'' campaign. He has held several licenses allowing him to visit
Cuba, but didn't have one in 1994, when he got caught. He faces a $10,000 fine.
He is accused of illegally donating piano supplies, spending money in Cuba
and accepting pay for tuning pianos. Treuhaft mocks the accusations, saying the
United States is trying to bring Cuba to its knees by making Cubans listen to
out-of-tune pianos.
In 1998, Treuhaft's lawyer told him the government had agreed to a $3,500
settlement. Treuhaft rejected the offer.
Embargo supporters say the travel ban has been undermined by OFAC's lack of
resources.
"The lack of enforcement of any law, I would certainly say in terms of
the Cuba sanctions, invites lawlessness to take place,'' said Rep. Bob Menendez,
D-N.J.
OFAC is a small agency whose responsibilities have grown in recent years as
sanctions have become a more popular foreign policy tool. It has a central role
in tracking terrorist assets.
Last year, OFAC director R. Richard Newcomb told a panel appointed by
Congress that the lack of administrative law judges was "an issue
substantially relating to budget.''
In 1998, the office received permission to borrow administrative law judges
from the Environmental Protection Administration. Permission was renewed in 1999
and 2000; no judges were assigned.
This year, the EPA didn't offer its judges. Treasury is now considering
hiring its own, the government's personnel office said.
The backlog began during the Clinton administration, which had loosened the
travel ban.
President Bush (news - web sites) strongly supports the embargo and in July
ordered increased enforcement. Cuban-American exiles are major supporters of
both the president and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who faces re-election
next year.
Even before Bush acted, OFAC had begun sending out more letters seeking
fines from suspected violators and informing them of their right to a hearing.
During the summer, Congress considered suspending or eliminating the travel
ban. Some lawmakers view it as an ineffective Cold War relic that only hurts
Americans. But those efforts were set aside after Sept. 11.
On the Net: Treasury Department Cuba travel regulations:
http://www.treas.gov/ofac/cubapage.html
Center for Constitutional Rights Cuba page:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/programs/cubatravel.asp
Colombia, Rebels End Round of Talks
By Juan Pablo Toro, Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's second-biggest rebel group and the
government ended a round of peace talks in Cuba Saturday, with both sides saying
the rebels would make peace gestures and that more talks were planned.
In a joint statement from Havana, released in Colombia by the government's
press agency, the National Liberation Army said it would "contribute to the
celebration of Christmas and the New Year in an atmosphere of peace and
tranquility.''
Details on what peace concessions the rebel group planned to make would be
announced on Monday, the statement said. The rebels are known by their Spanish
initials ELN.
"With these announcements, the ELN wishes to create a climate of
confidence in the restarted (peace) process,'' the statement said.
Talks began in a secret location in Cuba on Wednesday between
representatives of the ELN and Colombian President Andres Pastrana. The sides
hope to create a framework and agenda for formal negotiations aimed at ending
the group's leftist insurgency.
Pastrana severed contacts with the ELN earlier this year, saying the rebel
group did not appear committed to seeking peace.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) told reporters Thursday that
his government was "expressing our good will'' by hosting the two sides in
Havana in an effort at getting talks on track.
The ELN has waged a campaign of bombing electrical towers and oil pipelines
that has cost the government millions of dollars. It also carries out
kidnappings and fights Colombian security forces on the battlefield.
The government and the ELN announced a new round of talks would be held Jan.
30-31 in Havana, and that representatives of the international community and
Colombian civil society would be invited to attend.
The government has also been engaged in talks for the past three years with
this South American country's biggest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, but there have been few results.
Colombia's 37-year civil war, pitting the leftist guerrillas against
government troops and paramilitaries, kills some 3,500 people every year.
Historic Shipment Leaves for Cuba
By Alan Sayre, Ap Business Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A freighter loaded with corn left for Cuba on Friday, the
first commercial export of U.S. food to the communist island nation since 1963.
But even before the humanitarian cargo pulled away, both sides in the debate
over the decades-old trade embargo lined up on the docks to speak out on what
the shipment could mean for the future of trade with Cuba.
An anti-Castro group said the shipment would be used as a wedge to end the
embargo. Minutes later, Illinois Gov. George Ryan and other officials said they
hoped the shipment would lead to increased U.S.-Cuba trade.
"This is a bridge we need to build,'' Ryan said. "Corn is forming
a bridge today that we need to build with the people of Cuba.''
Under a law passed last year by Congress, humanitarian shipments can be made
to Cuba. The Cuban government says the 24,000 metric tons of corn will be used
to replenish reserves lost when Hurricane Michelle struck Nov. 4, destroying
crops and thousands of homes. The United Nations (news - web sites) says the
country could face food shortages in the next few months.
George J. Fowler III, general counsel of the anti-Castro Cuban American
National Foundation, said his group favored humanitarian shipments, but asked
why, if the current shipment is so vital, the freighter took a 20-hour stop in
New Orleans for Friday's news conference.
"This press conference is about a show about lifting the embargo,''
Fowler said.
The freighter M.V. Ikan Mazatlan was loaded at an Archer Daniels Midland
port a few miles up the Mississippi River and brought to New Orleans on
Thursday. It left shortly after Friday's ceremony for a two-day voyage to
Havana.
Ron Warfield, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau Association, said 40
years of trade sanctions against Cuba "have done nothing more than hand
trade with Cuba to our foreign competitors.''
Ryan, who began laying the groundwork for such shipments when he visited
Cuba and met with Fidel Castro (news - web sites) in 1999, said his state needs
additional markets to sell record harvests of agricultural goods.
"We need to continue to groom this market not only with Cuba, but with
other countries,'' Ryan said.
But Fowler said that unrestricted trade with Cuba will put money in Castro's
pocket to export his revolution and terrorism to the detriment of the United
States
"Cuba is a terrorist nation,'' Fowler said. "Castro has been at
the center of terrorist activity.''
The shipment includes corn from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
A shipment of frozen chickens to Cuba is expected to depart later this
month. ADM has contracted to deliver to Cuba 96,000 metric tons of food items,
including corn, soybean meal, wheat and rice through February. The contracts
with the Cuban government have a combined approximate market value of $14
million. | 
