Published Tuesday, February 13, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
Fliers' relatives getting Cuba's millions
U.S. approves release of money in shoot-down suit
By Jay Weaver. jweaver@herald.com
The U.S. government on Monday authorized the historic transfer of $93
million in frozen Cuban assets to compensate three Miami families who won a
wrongful-death lawsuit against Cuba for the shoot-down of two exile planes in
1996.
"God willing, we will finally get the money for these families,'' said
attorney Aaron Podhurst, one of a half-dozen Miami lawyers who represented the
three victims' relatives. "There were many people who didn't believe that
justice would be done. It doesn't make up for the loss of lives, but our system
does work.''
The bank transfer of the funds, held by the United States since the Cuban
trade embargo in the early 1960s, is scheduled for Friday. It will include $58
million in compensatory damages for the relatives of the three Brothers to the
Rescue pilots shot down over international waters on Feb. 24, 1996, and an
additional $35 million in court-imposed sanctions against Fidel Castro's
government.
The unlocking of the Cuban accounts brings to an end the lengthy legal
wrangling between the Clinton administration and the families' lawyers over
collection of a 1997 federal court judgment in Miami. The money, held in the
Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, comes from long-distance telephone revenue
paid by AT&T and other U.S. companies to the Cuban government.
"It sends the message to Cuba and other terrorist countries, 'You do
not kill Americans and not suffer the consequences,' '' said Podhurst's partner,
attorney Victor Diaz.
But under the provisions of the payout, the pilots' families will not
receive another $137.7 million in punitive damages, as ordered by U.S. District
Judge James Lawrence King in 1997. Their lawyers can attempt to collect the
money from Cuban assets that are not part of the blocked bank accounts, but that
is a nearly impossible task.
FAMILY FOUNDATIONS
The relatives of Brothers fliers Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre and Mario
de la Peña plan to donate at least $15 million to family foundations
benefiting scholarships for Cuban rafters, human rights causes and South Florida
charities. The relatives also agreed to offer $3 million to the family of Pablo
Morales, who was killed in the shoot-down. His family could not sue Cuba because
he was not a U.S. citizen. His mother, Eva Barbas, has said the money should go
to charity instead.
SEARCH MISSIONS
Brothers to the Rescue, based at Opa-locka Airport, regularly flies search
missions over the Florida Straits looking for Cuban rafters.
Maggie Khuly, the sister of Alejandre, said the victims' relatives cannot
comment about the money because they are potential witnesses in the ongoing
federal prosecution of five Cubans accused of spying on the U.S. government. One
of the defendants allegedly conspired in the shoot-down.
Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,
said there was "nothing new'' to add to the Castro government's stand. "It
was clear to us they were robbing money that belonged to the Cuban people,'' he
said.
Cuba's frozen assets were ultimately unlocked because of action by Congress
in October, when lawmakers passed a bill making it easier for relatives of the
victims of terrorism and former hostages to collect civil court damages from
Cuba, Iran and other "rogue states.'' But the legislation only took
compensatory damages and sanctions into consideration, not punitive awards that
are designed to punish for wrongdoing.
The Clinton administration challenged the 1997 civil award so the assets
could be used as a bargaining chip with post-Castro Cuba. It wasn't until Jan.
19 -- one day before he left office -- that President Clinton signed the
executive order unfreezing the funds.
Clinton's signature was not needed to compensate other victims of terrorism
under the recent congressional act because the money came out of the U.S.
Treasury.
CASE AGAINST IRAN
For example, eight families who won court judgments against Iran already
have collected $213 million, plus interest. In those cases, the government, for
the first time, fronted the money to the victims and assumed the responsibility
of collecting the claims from Iran.
The Anti-Terrorism Act in 1996 allowed victims to sue foreign countries for
civil damages in U.S. courts if those nations were classified by the State
Department as sponsors of terrorism.
FINAL CHALLENGE
But after their legal victories, the victims faced the challenge of
collecting judgments because the U.S. government was averse to turning over
these countries' frozen assets to pay court claims. Citing national security
concerns, officials saw those assets as weapons for conducting foreign policy.
In the Brothers to the Rescue case, it was all the more perplexing because
the Clinton administration initially expressed sympathy for the victims'
families and gave them $1.2 million in frozen Cuban assets -- the only other
time that the government has tapped the blocked accounts.
Cuban group ejects diplomat, dog
A private dog owners' association in Cuba on Monday ejected the top U.S.
diplomat in Havana from its membership, protesting Washington's four-decade-old
Cuba policy.
"This is an outrage. This would be ludicrous if they didn't take
themselves so seriously,'' said Charles Shapiro, chief of the State Department's
Cuba Desk.
Vikki Huddleston, the head of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, received
the dismissal for both herself and her dog -- named "Havana'' -- from the
Cuban National Association of Afghan Breeders, Shapiro said.
American diplomats abroad routinely join civil groups and other associations
in order to rub elbows with local residents.
In the case of Huddleston, Shapiro said she acquired the dog after becoming
principal U.S. officer in Cuba 18 months ago.
The letter, dated Feb. 6, arrived in a fax at the U.S. mission on Havana. It
specifically complained that Huddleston had recently met with some university
students and professors on an educational trip to the island, and "gave
them verbal and written briefings against our country.''
It decried the U.S. government's 40 years "of hostility against our
people and government, with which, despite the fact that we are a
non-governmental organization, we identify with politically and ideologically.''
Shapiro said the State Department has no interest in retaliating against
Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, Fernando Remirez de Estenoz.
"We will not retaliate against Remirez's dog,'' he said. "I'm not
going to stoop so low as to sniff around that one.''
Grammys wanted back
By Jordan Levin , Jlevin@herald.Com
Five of Miami-Dade County's most prominent civic leaders are trying to bring
the Latin Grammys to South Florida a year after leaders here snubbed the
televised awards show.
Mayors Alex Penelas of Miami-Dade, Joe Carollo of Miami and Neisen Kasdin of
Miami Beach, along with Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American
National Foundation, and William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami
Convention & Visitor Bureau, have signed a letter pledging their support for
staging the Latin Grammys at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Sept. 12, 2001.
Cuban-American leaders' support represents a major political departure from
last year, when a county resolution prohibited doing business with companies or
performers who had ties to Cuba. That policy prompted the Latin Grammys to move
to Los Angeles after program organizers insisted that Cuban musicians be allowed
to perform.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 