Odds and ends

• Granma runs an Interior Ministry statement about four Cubans, two of whom work as guards at a “nautical base” east of Havana, who took possession of a boat and headed for the United States. Cuba communicated with the U.S. Coast Guard, which intercepted the vessel and returned it with all aboard.

• In the Washington Post, Yoani Sanchez on the recent appearances of Fidel Castro.

• Herald: Ana Margarita Martinez’ lawsuit to have her legal judgment against Cuba paid from funds owed Cuba by air charter companies is not over, and her lawyers are fighting to move it to Florida state courts.

• The Herald on the latest in the USAID Cuba program; but you read it here first.

• Sort of like watching a car crash in slow motion: the saga of Florida Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Greene and his yacht trip to Cuba.

Administration defends Cuba flights in court

A federal court in Miami is considering an effort by Ana Margarita Martinez, who holds a $27 million civil judgment against the Cuban government, to collect that judgment by garnishing the fees paid to the Cuban government in connection with the approximately 50 charter flights that go back and forth each week.

The judge asked the federal government to state its opinion on the case, and it did so by filing a “Statement of Interest” on Wednesday.

The court doesn’t make such documents public, so thanks to El Nuevo Herald for putting it on its website here (pdf). The Herald’s story is here, and Miami New Times profiles Ms. Martinez here, giving background on her original grievance – a Cuban agent who married her and abruptly abandoned her – and her views on the lawsuit.

The U.S. government’s position is unequivocal. The Statement of Interest begins with a variety of legal arguments why Ms. Martinez’ claims lack merit. It argues that the U.S.-Cuba flights are in the U.S. national interest and includes a supporting statement from the State Department. Finally, starting on page 39 it includes a declaration by the Treasury Department and an exchange of letters that would seem to establish that in accepting a partial payment of $198,000 in 2005, Ms. Martinez relinquished her claim to punitive damages and retains a claim to about $7 million in compensatory damages.

Hell hath no fury...

This could get interesting.

Ana Margarita Martinez, the ex-wife of Juan Pablo Roque, a Cuban agent who bolted Miami and his marriage just before the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, is seeking to collect on a $27 million judgment she won against the Cuban government. There being no ready source of Cuban government cash laying around within U.S. jurisdiction, she is going after the fees that Miami charter companies pay to the Cuban government for landing rights and services. The charter companies are fighting it in court.

The Miami Herald story is here, and Babalu has the press release issued on Martinez’ behalf.

If Martinez is ultimately successful, it would seem that flights to Cuba would end. On the other hand, this strategy would have been tried before by others holding judgments against Cuba, and would be used to collect from revenues that U.S. phone companies pay to Cuba, or from airlines’ payments for overflight rights, or from cargoes of agricultural products that are loaded at U.S. ports for shipment to Cuba.

In other words, my hunch is that the federal government protects licensed transactions from legal actions of this type, and that courts have upheld that protection. If anyone with knowledge of this area of the law wants to chime in, please do.

Odds and ends

• CBS-4 Miami has done a report on the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue (BTR) shootdown and the events that led up to it, including BTR leaflet-dropping flights over Havana in 1995. The report is based in part on U.S. government documents that CBS-4 reporters obtained. A few (too few) of the documents are linked in the article, showing how U.S. officials reacted to Cuba’s repeated complaints and worried about the possibility of a shootdown. At one point, they threatened to revoke BTR leader Jose Basulto’s pilot license.

• A new book, The Cubans of Union City, reviewed by Marifeli Perez-Stable.

• Herald: A statement from a group of prominent African Americans calls on the Cuban government to respect civil rights and to end “the unwarranted and brutal harassment of black citizens in Cuba.” Statement here (pdf).

Odds and ends

• From Reason magazine, a review of Shootdown, the “scrupulously even-handed” documentary about Cuba’s downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.

• Cuba and Spain agree on a date for the next round of their human rights dialogue.

• There was a parade in Miami to commemorate the birthday of Jose Marti. Los Miquis covered it (in Spanish), proving that bloggers can be great spot reporters too. It’s reverent toward Marti, much less so toward some of those on parade.