Suit Says Cuba Offered Slaves for Curacao Company

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006 7:47 p.m. EDT

Suit Says Cuba Offered 'Slaves' for Curacao Company

Cuba's communist government acted as a slavemaster, forcing Cuban
workers to labor against their will for a Curacao ship repair company,
according to charges filed in a lawsuit in Miami two months ago and
first reported Friday by The Associated Press.

As many as 100 Cuban shipyard workers are being forced to work against
their will at Curacao Drydock Co., a ship repair company, which has an
agent in Delray Beach, Klattenberg Marine Associates, according to the
Miami Herald.

The plaintiffs - three workers who escaped and now live in Florida,
allege they were ordered to work 16-hour shifts for $16 a month, a low
wage but common in their native Cuba.

''We started work at 3 in the afternoon and kept working until 7 a.m.
the following day,'' plaintiff Alberto Justo Rodríguez told the Herald.
``We worked in the worst, most uncomfortable parts of the ship. Where
nobody wanted to go - that's where they sent the Cubans.''

According to the suit, the men often worked 112 hours a week for wages
that amounted to a shocking three cents an hour.

Rodríguez, a former shipyard worker in Cuba, testified he was summoned
to the Ministry of Transportation in 2001 for a mandatory transfer to
Curacao. Upon arrival on the Caribbean island, he says, his passport was
seized.

He charged that he and up to 100 other Cubans worked on a joint venture
with the Cuban government and Curacao Drydock, a company that does
shipyard repair, including work for U.S.-based cruise lines, oil
companies and shipping firms.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs charged that the joint venture between
the Cuban government and Curacao Drydock provides for Cuba to supply
workers for the company, thus providing a source of cash for the Cuban
government. Curacao Drydock, the suit also alleges, was aware that Cuban
workers were being held against their will.

''They always told us if we didn't work, they'd throw us out of the
country, fire us and send us to jail,'' Rodríguez said. ``Really, we
were slaves. We didn't have a voice or a vote.''

In a written statement provided to the Herald by Curacao Drydock
attorney Matt Triggs, many of the suit's allegations are directed at the
Cuban government.

''There are allegations, however, regarding the health and safety of our
employees that are of great concern to Curacao Drydock Co.,'' the
statement said, stressing that the company has safety measures in place.
``Nevertheless, the company is undertaking a full investigation of the
allegations.''

Among the plaintiff's allegations:

# The workers were forced to labor in sweltering weather and dangerous
conditions, such as hanging from scaffolds.

# When Rodríguez broke his foot and ankle in 2002 while scraping rust
from the hull of a ship, he was sent home to heal - and then ordered
back after his recovery.

# Luis Alberto Casanova once suffered an electric shock but was forced
to finish his shift despite bleeding from his tongue.

# Among the workers' supervisors were other Cubans, including a nephew
of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

# On time off, Rodríguez said, they were forced to watch videos of
political speeches, marches and the Cuban government Mesa Redonda -
Round Table - TV news shows. He escaped in 2004 and now works odd jobs
in Hialeah, Fla.

According to the Herald, the lawsuit was filed by Miami Beach lawyer
John Andres Thornton under the Aliens Tort Act, which allows foreigners
to file civil suits in U.S. federal courts when an international law has
been violated. The suit seeks unspecified damages. No trial date has
been set.

Curacao Drydock has asked the judge to dismiss the complaint for lack of
jurisdiction.

Co-plaintiffs Fernando Alonso Hernández worked in Curacao from 1995
until he fled in January 2005. He and the third plaintiff, Luis Alberto
Casanova, who worked in Curacao from 2002 until 2005, now work in
shipyards in Tampa. One of the plaintiffs, Thornton said, now earns in
an hour what he used to get in a month

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/10/29/01235.shtml?s=ic