By Jennifer Babson and Luisa Yanez. lyanez@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 19, 2002 in The Miami Herald.
The ex-wife of a notorious Cuban spy has made a legal move to seize an aging
biplane that eight Cubans flew to freedom a week ago.
Ana Margarita Martínez wants to sell the Antonov-2, a rattletrap
Russian-made rig outfitted for crop-dusting, as partial payment toward the
$27.18 million judgment a Miami-Dade Circuit Court awarded her for a sham
marriage to Cuban agent Juan Pablo Roque.
Last year, Judge Alan Postman ordered the Cuban government to pay Martínez
that amount to compensate for its role in perpetrating a scheme intended to
infiltrate Miami's exile community.
On Monday, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court clerk approved an order filed by Martínez's
attorneys that requires the Monroe County Sheriff's Office to place a levy on
the plane to serve as the first payment -- if the federal government or another
court doesn't step in to block the highly unusual legal move.
The money would barely dent the unpaid bill -- similar antique planes are
valued at $40,000 to $50,000. But seizing the plane, now under deputies' guard
in Key West, would make a powerful point to the Cuban government, said Fernando
Zulueta, one of Martínez's attorneys.
''It's a kind of crappy plane, but it's symbolic,'' he said. "Cuba
should pay their debts like anyone else.''
Martínez, who has rebuilt her life and written a book about her
marriage to Roque, which ended when he fled Miami for Cuba in 1996, called the
move ''fair.'' She had watched the drama over the Cubans' flight to Key West
unfold last week never imagining it might affect her, but ''whatever it takes to
get what's due is fine with me,'' she said.
The court order doesn't necessarily mean Martínez will wind up with
the plane, and her attorneys acknowledged that the federal government could step
in.
CUBA DEMANDS PLANE
For one thing, the Cuban government, which denounced the flight as a
''skyjacking,'' has demanded the plane back and called for anti-American
demonstrations nationwide Monday night. Cuban planes diverted to the United
States by Cuban migrants have routinely been returned.
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Monday night that the federal
government didn't have enough information about the case yet to comment.
The ploy poses sticky legal and diplomatic problems.
Mark Willis, general counsel for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, said he
would consult today with federal authorities before deciding what to do.
It's difficult, Willis said, even to determine who legally owns the plane.
''I just got the paperwork this afternoon,'' he said. "I'm not sure we
can proceed with the levy because I am concerned about the title.''
Keeping deputies on 24-hour watch over the plane is costing Key West
International Airport $960 a day, airport manager Peter Horton said.
''My fear is that this action will further delay the State Department's
processing of this aircraft so that it can be flown back to Cuba,'' Horton said.
The 1950s aircraft wouldn't be a windfall for Martínez, with newer
models offered on websites between $37,500 and $75,000, but the satisfaction
would be priceless, she said.
''That's not much. I just want to be a thorn in their side,'' Martínez
said. "I want to aggravate the Cuban government so they won't forget what
they did.''
To date, collecting on her judgment has been difficult.
One legal hurdle is that Martínez won her case in Miami-Dade civil
court. The precedent for her claim was set in Miami federal court by the
relatives of the victims of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down. Three of the
four fliers' families sued the Cuban government.
In 1997, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King awarded the families about
$50 million in damages, plus $35 million in sanctions against Cuba. Last year,
the U.S. government transferred about $93 million, including interest, in frozen
Cuban bank accounts to the Brothers families.
That success emboldened others, such as Martínez, who have claims
against Cuba, to take the Cuban government to court.
RECURRENCES LIKELY
''This is an issue that's going to continue to occur,'' said Victor Diaz
Jr., one of the attorneys who argued the Brothers case.
"When the assets do come into the jurisdiction, people with judgments
have a complete, 100 percent total right to try to collect their judgments.''
Former U.S. Attorney Bob Martínez, another Brothers lawyer, also
applauded the legal action.
''I hope they follow the Castro government to the ends of this earth until
they satisfy every penny of all judgments against them,'' he said.
Herald staff translator Renato Perez and staff writer Jay Weaver contributed
to this report.
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