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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
U.S. set to get tougher on Cuba
The Bush administration
says it plans to go after anyone who does
business with 10 companies controlled by
the Cuban government.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Feb. 10, 2004
In the latest move to obey President Bush's
orders to tighten U.S. sanctions on Havana,
the Treasury Department on Monday identified
10 companies owned by the Cuban government
and warned that anyone doing business with
them could face criminal charges.
Treasury Secretary John Snow told The Herald
his department is also considering tightening
the restrictions on cash remittances that
Cuban Americans send to relatives on the
island. The department also is considering
revoking the authorization for legal travelers
to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban
goods, including cigars and rum -- a side
benefit of travel to Cuba.
In a separate action, Treasury officials
also announced that three cases are under
investigation by the U.S. attorney's office
in Miami for possible criminal violations.
They declined to discuss the cases but federal
sources said it was tied to an annual summer
sailboat race to Cuba out of Key West. Several
participants in last year's race were flagged
by authorities for possible violations.
The department's actions were part of the
heightened enforcement of U.S. commercial
and travel sanctions on Cuba emerging from
President George W. Bush's order in October
to tighten restrictions in place against
President Fidel Castro's government since
the 1960s.
The 10 Cuban government firms identified
by Treasury allegedly help U.S. residents
break the bans on most travel and trade
with Cuba by offering travel packages to
people who do not qualify, plus selling
products via the Internet that are delivered
to island residents for a fee.
'EASY ACCESS'
''These companies have been providing easy
access to Cuba to those U.S. individuals
who chose to break the law,'' Snow said
in a speech to Cuban Americans in Coral
Gables. "Today's action will put a
stop to that, and a stop to another illegal
pathway for U.S. dollars to Castro's wallet.''
The companies and subsidiaries identified
were: Havanatur S.A., a leading tour operator
in Cuba with branches in Argentina, the
Bahamas and Chile; Cubanacán Group,
a Cuban tourist group with branches in the
Netherlands and England; CIMEX, which is
owned by the Cuban government; and 2904977
Canada Inc., a CIMEX subsidiary based in
Montreal.
Also named was La Compañia Tiendas
Universo S.A., an Internet company owned
by Cubanacán that sells items such
as food, appliances and cosmetics for delivery
to Cubans on the island.
Some of the Cubanacán and Havanatour
branches are known to have arranged flight
and hotel reservations for U.S.-based travel
agencies that lack the U.S. permits required
for doing business with Cuba.
Authorities said those U.S. companies,
as well as people who purchase tour packages
or products from the U.S. or Cuban firms,
could face civil and criminal penalties
and have their bank accounts frozen under
the U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act. Penalties
can reach 10 years in prison and hefty fines.
''You as the consumer are now on notice:
to do business with them is to provide support
to the Castro regime,'' Juan Zarate, Treasury's
deputy assistant secretary, said in an interview
with The Herald.
Americans, with some exceptions, are prohibited
from traveling to Cuba or conducting business
with the communist-ruled nation. Cuban-Americans
are allowed annual trips for family reunifications.
Exceptions are also available for journalists,
academic and religious groups, and several
dozen U.S. firms have permission to arrange
their travel.
Officials said that since heightened enforcement
of U.S. sanctions began in October, authorities
have prevented 275 travelers from boarding
Cuba-bound flights after discovering that
they did not have proper licenses.
Also, more than 300 civil violation notices
have been sent to suspected illegal travelers
and three administrative law judges have
been assigned to 111 cases, including 63
that resulted in settlement payments.
CASH FOR RELATIVES
Snow also told The Herald his department
would ''take a hard look'' at rules that
now allow Cuban Americans to send as much
as $1,200 a year to relatives on the island,
to determine if the money is really "going
to where it's supposed to.''
Bush also has ordered a thorough review
of U.S. policy and in October created a
Cabinet-level Commission for Assistance
to a Free Cuba, to make recommendations
for how Washington should deal with the
island after Castro leaves power.
''The president has been pretty clear in
his views on Castro,'' Snow said. "He
is committed to the Cuban people even as
he loathes and detests the regime. As we
uncover violations of U.S. law, we're going
to act on them.''
Herald staff writer Larry Lebowitz contributed
to this report.
'Car-boat' case a dilemma for president
The fate of Cubans who
rigged a car into a makeshift boat has put
President Bush in another political bind
with exiles.
By Peter Wallsten, pwallsten@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Feb. 10, 2004
The case of the Cubans who rigged an old
Buick to cross the Florida Straits in their
quest for freedom -- but who could face
being returned to the island -- has put
President Bush back in a political bind
with exile leaders just nine months before
the election.
The pressure mounted Monday as a federal
judge deferred ruling on whether he has
jurisdiction to intervene in efforts to
bring three of the migrants into the country.
Everyone remained in limbo aboard a Coast
Guard ship, though it appeared that eight
others were at risk of being sent back to
Cuba at any moment.
''It's not an easy situation,'' conceded
state Rep. Gaston Cantens, a Cuban-American
lawmaker who is on the president's reelection
team in Florida. "It makes all of us
uncomfortable, and we certainly want anyone
that is genuinely seeking freedom to be
able to accomplish that.''
The Buick case mirrors a similarly high-profile
attempt last year by three of the same refugees
to reach Florida aboard a floating Chevy
pickup. That journey was cut short when
the Coast Guard sank the truck and sent
the Cubans back to the island, fueling criticism
from some exile circles that the administration
had not followed through on promises to
revamp immigration policies.
The Bush administration came under particular
fire last year -- including from the president's
own brother, Gov. Jeb Bush -- after it sent
12 Cuban boat hijacking suspects back to
the island under an agreement with Fidel
Castro's government that they would not
face the death penalty, a move that resulted
in several leading Cuban-American state
legislators signing a letter suggesting
that the president risked losing political
support.
HEAVY SUPPORT
More than 80 percent of the 400,000 Cuban-Americans
who voted in 2000 backed Bush, helping win
the election by the slimmest of margins.
With White House strategists once again
eyeing the importance of Florida's 27 electoral
votes, Bush unveiled a series of promises
in October to crack down harder on Havana
and showcase his opposition to Castro's
rule.
CRITICISM
But critics say the administration's tentative
approach to the latest episode -- putting
the car-boat migrants in limbo and looking
to a court for guidance -- suggests the
White House is afraid of enduring further
criticism at a time that his overall approval
rating has been dropping.
''They're nervous and they don't know what
to do,'' said Joe Garcia, executive director
of the influential Cuban American National
Foundation and one of the most vocal critics
of Bush's Cuba policies.
"They've got these guys sitting in
the ocean, and it's completely political.''
Garcia and other critics say Bush has not
fulfilled his promise of rewriting the so-called
''wet foot, dry foot'' policy that dictates
whether Cubans can stay in the U.S. or be
returned.
But a White House spokesman on Monday defended
the president's approach to Cuba in general
and migration specifically, saying that
politics was not at issue in the question
over what to do with the car-boaters.
''The United States continues to seek to
transform the historic pattern of irregular
and dangerous Cuban boat departures into
a safe, legal and orderly migration flow,''
said White House spokesman Taylor Gross.
ON DEFENSIVE
As the administration played defense once
again on its immigration policies, a well-timed
visit to Miami by Treasury Secretary John
Snow on Monday won headlines on another
front that is important to exile leaders:
the travel-to-Cuba ban.
Snow on Monday announced a series of crackdowns
on businesses accused of fostering travel
to Cuba -- a move that Treasury officials
said was planned long in advance but that
critics suggested was designed to distract
attention from the seafaring refugees.
Additional pressure on the president is
coming from some in his own party who are
running for the U.S. Senate and are courting
the largely Republican Cuban-American voting
bloc in a competitive primary.
Former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum issued a
statement last week hailing the courage
of the Buick riders and calling on the administration
to reevaluate the immigration policies.
Even former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel
Martinez, a Cuban-American who helped lead
the commission appointed by Bush in October
to review Cuba policies and who left the
administration to run for the Senate, said
Monday that he hopes none of the car-boaters
are sent back.
''The kind of imagination these people
have shown probably has won them, if not
the legal status, the heart and minds of
Americans, and it's almost a little bit
of a special case,'' Martinez said in an
interview.
"Your heart just melts for them, and
I would say any way possible to give these
folks a break would be a good thing.''
For all of the recent tumult, however,
it's not clear that the president will lose
Cuban-American votes this year.
POLL RESULTS
A poll conducted for the Cuban Study Group,
a committee of moderate business leaders
that encourages increased communication
between Cubans on the island and in the
U.S., shows many Cuban Americans feel that
Bush has broken promises he made during
the 2000 campaign and since then.
But, according to the pollster, Sergio
Bendixen, who has worked for Democratic
candidates in the past, the vast majority
of Cuban Americans continue to say they
will vote for Bush again.
''By and large we don't see one iota of
erosion of support for the president,''
said Carlos Saladrigas, the group's chairman.
"Most people balance everything out
and say this president has had a very good
record on Cuba.''
Cubans not going back -- for now
By Tere Figueras, tfigueras@herald.com.
A Cuban family of three found floating
in the Florida Straits last week with eight
others in a converted Buick ''car-boat''
cannot be returned to the island before
Wednesday, a Miami federal judge said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno
heard arguments from lawyers with the exile
group Democracy Movement, who asked the
court to halt the repatriation of Luis Grass
Rodríguez and his wife and child.
Moreno extended his emergency injunction
-- which he granted on Friday to prevent
the Grass family's repatriation over the
weekend -- for another two days, allowing
government attorneys time to file a written
response to a question of jurisdiction.
Immigration officials have not decided
the fate of the Grass family, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee told the judge.
The other eight Cubans, including four
children, ''could be repatriated within
24 hours,'' Lee said.
The Grass family -- husband Luis, wife
Isora and their 4-year-old son, Angel Luis
-- were singled out because the father was
the only one of the Buick migrants who had
been granted political asylum hearings with
the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, said
attorney William Sánchez. Grass was
in the middle of the process when he grew
frustrated and left.
Another difference between Grass' case
and that of his fellow Buick passengers:
Sánchez said the government's own
records showed the group was picked up 25
miles off the Keys. At some point, the group
was divided and the Grass family was on
a separate cutter that took them inside
the 12-mile U.S. territorial limit.
Neither the U.S. Coast Guard nor the State
Department has commented on the case of
the Buick's 11 passengers, citing policies
of not addressing pending cases.
Under the U.S. immigration policy known
as ''wet foot/dry foot,'' Cubans who are
interdicted at sea are generally sent back
to the island, while those who make it onto
U.S. soil are allowed to stay.
Sánchez and his fellow attorneys
on the case argue that certain protections
should apply to migrants who make it into
American waters.
Lee argued that another federal judge as
well as an appeals court had maintained
mere presence in territorial waters was
not enough.
The Grass family and another man aboard
the Buick -- fellow mechanic Marcial Basanta
López -- were among a group of Cubans
who tried a similarly venture last year
aboard a 1951 Chevy pickup outfitted with
makeshift pontoons and a propeller.
The Chevy was intercepted about 40 miles
from Key West, sunk by machine-gun fire
and its occupants sent back to Cuba. All
but two of the Chevy's 12 riders were immediately
denied visa applications. Grass and another
man were given interviews with the U.S.
Interest Section. Basanta and the rest were
sent letters rejeting their requests. In
court, Moreno expressed his admiration for
those who masterminded both ventures, while
acknowledging the court's limitations on
intervening.
The judge expects to make his decision
by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
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