The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
MIAMI
The day a judge awarded her family $400 million in damages for Cuba's
execution by firing squad of her brother, Jeannette Hausler said his
death had been vindicated. "We have found justice," she said.
But now comes the hard part for Hausler and other family members of
Robert Fuller, an American who owned a plantation in Cuba and was
tortured and killed on Oct. 16, 1960. They must try to identify Cuban
assets frozen in U.S. bank accounts in an effort to collect any money.
"How much there is, is not clear. The banks are very coy about telling
you how much is there, because they don't want to get sued by the Cuban
government," said Alfonso Perez, one of the Fuller family's attorneys.
"Are we going to try to get some of those assets? Absolutely."
Fidel Castro's serious illness raises another possibility: after his
death, Cuba might seek normalized trade and diplomatic relations with
the United States, opening an avenue for the Fuller family and others
who have won judgments against Cuba to get their money directly from
Havana. Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother, Raul, in July.
"If Cuba wants to be part of the world economic community, if they want
to have investments in the U.S. or have U.S. companies invest, I think
they are going to have to deal with these judgments one way or another,"
said Joseph DeMaria, who represents families of two other men killed by
the Castro government in 1961.
DeMaria was part of a legal team that late last year persuaded a federal
judge in New York to order payment of $91 million from frozen Cuban
accounts held by JP Morgan Chase Bank to families of two men who died
after the failed, CIA-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
The money came from accounts frozen during the Kennedy administration,
including one containing Cuban payments made to AT&T. The payouts were
made to the families of Howard F. Anderson, who was executed for
smuggling arms into Cuba, and Thomas "Pete" Ray, a CIA pilot who was
shot down during the Bay of Pigs operation.
Both families had won lawsuits against Cuba in Miami-Dade County Circuit
Court. In both cases, Cuba did not answer the allegations the lawsuits
or defend itself, which is the Castro government's common practice when
it's sued in the United States.
Last week, Cuba's Foreign Ministry issued a statement through state-run
newspapers accusing the United States of robbing Cuban assets and saying
it does not recognize the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The statement
said the assets wrongly went to "terrorist groups or families of U.S.
citizens involved in aggressions against our country."
The families took advantage of a 1996 U.S. law that allowed victims of
terrorist groups or countries like Cuba that are designated as state
sponsors of terrorism to sue for damages.
The same law was used by the families of three Cuban exiles who flew
Brothers to the Rescue planes that were shot down by Cuban MiG fighters
in 1996 to collect $93 million from the frozen assets in 2001. That
represented about half of their $187 million damage award.
Still, it takes years to tap into the Cuban accounts, and the banks
resist paying out any money for a variety of reasons, including disputes
over whether Cuba or a U.S. company is a deposit's lawful owner.
Some people who have won cases have had less success in collecting,
including Ana Margarita Martinez, who was awarded $27 million in 2001
after claiming that Cuba arranged her marriage to Juan Pablo Roque so he
could infiltrate and allegedly spy on Miami's exile groups.
President George W. Bush in 2005 ordered the Treasury Department to give
Margarita Martinez almost $200,000 out of Cuban accounts, far less than
her total judgment.
There also remain several lawsuits pending against Cuba, including a $50
million claim by former political prisoner Nilo Jerez contending that he
was repeatedly tortured at the Mazorra psychiatric hospital in Havana.
That case goes to trial in Miami on Jan. 30.
At the end of 2005, $268.3 million in Cuban assets were frozen in U.S.
bank accounts, according to the latest Treasury Department report. But
that doesn't take into account the recent payments in the Anderson and
Ray cases, and some of the money is exempt from payment under federal law.
About $100 million of the Fuller family's judgment could be applied to
the Cuban assets, with the remaining $300 million collectible only from
the Cuban government itself because it consists of punitive damages.
Cuba also faces an estimated $7 billion in claims by U.S. corporations
and individuals for seizure of property and other assets after the 1959
revolution led by Castro. Those 5,911 claims are on file with the U.S.
Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and include one totaling nearly
$429,000 plus interest for Fuller family members.
Eventually, U.S. officials and attorneys say, Cuba will have to account
for the lawsuits and claims. It may not be possible to kick people in
Cuba off farmland seized decades ago, but a system should be created to
satisfy those with a legitimate case, Fuller family lawyer Perez said.
"Otherwise, all hell will break loose. There would be claims on all
forms of commerce coming out of Cuba. The U.S. government will have to
step in and negotiate to resolve these claims in an orderly fashion," he
said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/17/america/NA-FEA-GEN-US-Cuban-Assets-Lawsuits.php
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