Havana Capitolio
OK, here it goes: In Cold War-times, Cuba racked up a debt with what was then called Czecholslavakia. Since then, the Soviet Union collapsed, Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic, and Cuba stood frozen in time. That Soviet-era debt survives though, and negotiations have recently surfaced for Cuba to repay that debt in rum. According to The Guardian, 130 years worth. Of rum. That’s a fun story, right? We thought so too. So we went to Cuba to tell it, and learned that you can’t just make a puff piece in an active military dictatorship.
Source: MEL Films
The Cruise Lines Traffic in Stolen Property: The Criminalty of Obama’s Cuba Policy and Why it Must be Changed
Among the most outrageous consequences of former President Obama’s embrace of Cuba’s white male military dictatorship has been the trafficking by Americans in confiscated- stolen- properties in Cuba. This occurs in clear violation of US law and is, disgracefully, permitted by the US government. The time has come to enforce the law, hold traffickers accountable and end the politically sanctioned organized crime.
The most egregious example has been the cruise lines trafficking in our stolen properties. We are the legitimate owners of the ports of Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Our properties were confiscated in late 1960 without compensation in violation of Cuban and international law.
Shortly after Obama’s capitulation with the dictatorship in Cuba, the cruise lines received licenses from the US Treasury to cruise Cuba. Notwithstanding that a cruise doesn’t remotely qualify as “people to people” travel, The US Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a shill organization for American companies eager to “do business” in Cuba, estimates that the cruise lines will rake in almost $850 million in ticket sales through 2019, while Cuban military owned stores will get almost $90 million. Port fees could exceed $23 million. The cruise lines are enriching themselves propping up the dictatorship.
US law, The Helms-Burton Act, however, is very clear. Trafficking in confiscated properties is expressly prohibited as is any direct or indirect financing of any transaction involving a confiscated property.
Trafficking occurs when one “enters into a commercial arrangement using or otherwise benefiting from confiscated property”. The only applicable exception is if the use of the property is “necessary” for the purpose of the travel. Norwegian Cruise Lines’ CEO has boasted publicly that using “ports are not necessary”. The cruise lines are trafficking.
Moreover, the law clearly states that financial damages for trafficking are accruing and cannot be reversed or extinguished. They are treble since the cruise lines have known the ports in Havana and Santiago are confiscated properties.
Why haven’t we sued?
Unfortunately, there is also a provision in Title III of the law that allows for the President to waive the private right to action to seek damages- our right to sue. When the law originated in 1996 American traffickers were not contemplated. The traffickers were foreigners who threatened retaliation if Title III went into full effect.
The legal justification for the waiver in the law explicitly states that waiving “is in the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba”. After 21 years of waivers the latter is demonstrably and inarguably false. Cuba remains a totalitarian, family-run, military dictatorship, like North Korea.
How is it in the “national interests of the United States” to permit American entities to traffic in the stolen property of another American? This is ludicrous. It favors one American group at the expense of another. It also undermines the foreign policy of the United States by validating the confiscation of property and making American investment less secure.
Ultimately, the waiver cannot be applied before Helms-Burton is lifted, since damages are non-extinguishable. New legislation would be required to do so, resulting in a fifth amendment claim against the US government, thereby passing the tab to the taxpayer. This is an unacceptable form of corporate welfare.
So Let’s be intellectually honest and apply some critical thinking about Cuba.
Everything there is stolen, from land, buildings, brands, trademarks, cigars and rum to the old American jalopies sputtering about. Even work product is stolen, the two currency system in Cuba is unadulterated, institutionalized slavery. That alone justifies isolating and sanctioning Cuba.
How can one reconcile removing the statue of General Lee from the town square while simultaneously condoning Cuba cruises that traffic in stolen property and exploit Cuban slave labor?
Nonetheless, in an uncharacteristic genuflection to American exceptionalism Mr. Obama reasoned that American capitalism and tourism would build a middle class to transform the dictatorship and usher in political reform, democracy. This despite the engagement of Cuba by more than 200 countries worldwide over twenty five years that had failed to bring change. It was a shameless scam.
How can capitalism work, much less be transformative where everything is stolen and there is no clear title to property? There can’t be credit without collateral.
How can capitalism work without property rights or their protections? In Cuba there is no contract sanctity, no independent judiciary and no transparency in the enforcement and regulatory agencies.
The fact is American companies aren’t in Cuba to create change. They’re in Cuba to make money. They have consciously partnered with the Cuban military, who owns the tourist industry and controls most of the economy, not the government. The latter is simply an enormous bureaucracy that insulates the military oligarchy from any accountability to the Cuban people.
The dictatorship underwrites the operations of American companies and their use of stolen properties in Cuba. They also protect them from competition. These companies love the cronyism.
Ignorantly spewing platitudes about failed policies, Obama implored Americans not to be trapped by history. Would he make that argument about slavery or the Holocaust? Or more pertinently about Tianenmen Square where thousands were slaughtered for demanding political freedoms while the business community remained silent? The latter were partnered with the Chinese dictatorship and wouldn’t bite the hand feeding them. Ignorance is how history repeats itself.
If democracy were to miraculously come as a consequence of Obama’s opening, a democratic government would likely return property to the lawful owners and allow claimants access to Cuban courts to sue for damages. Any investment by American companies would be lost. Why would companies like Carnival want change? Investment seeks certainty.
The question remains, should US companies be allowed to traffic in the stolen properties claimed by fellow Americans in Cuba (or in any country)? Should the President deny access to the courts by American claimants against US entities that traffic in their stolen property, since there would be no territorial overreach? Is there one good reason to justify trafficking?
Obviously, NO to all three.
Like every American company in Cuba, the cruise lines insist they comply with all regulations and are not breaking the law. What objection, then, would they have if President Trump did not apply the waiver if they are not trafficking? This would be a non-event and they would have nothing to fear.
The reality is the cruise lines object because they are trafficking; they’re lying, like many in the political class who cover for them.
Recall that in the period Carnival, the first cruise line to cruise Cuba, was negotiating with their Castro regime partners, they learned that allowing Cuban-Americans as passengers would violate Cuban law, which forbids Cubans (including exiles) to enter or leave Cuba by boat.
They also knew that in adhering to Cuban law they would violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination by country of origin. The US State and Treasury Departments understood this as well. Did Carnival, State or Treasury choose to do the right thing, follow US law and require the dictatorship waive this provision before initiating cruises?
Of course not. Blinded by greed and ideology they chose to appease the dictatorship. Carnival was only repentant when they were sued and paid a settlement. Individuals at State and Treasury have never been held accountable.
This begs another question, why should these Americans (Cuban-Americans) who sued get access to US courts and due process while we are denied the same? Isn’t that discrimination? Where’s our due process?
Licenses to travel to Cuba are not permits to violate the law, nor do they provide immunity from doing so. Carnival’s immoral and illegal behavior regarding Cuban-American passengers clearly demonstrate that fact. American companies in Cuba do so only with protection from the dictatorship and a corrupt US administration. It is politically sanctioned organized crime.
Assuming Obama and his minions were just stupid and not criminal, they failed to realize the currency of American engagement is not our money or customs; it is that we are a society of laws, not men and women.
They also failed to appreciate that by enforcing US law in engaging Cuba they were strengthening and arguably legitimizing their policy. It was more proof of the naïveté of the former community organizer grossly unqualified to be President.
Finally, in reaction to President Trump’s new Cuba regulations last November, rather than meet with Trump Administration officials, the cruise lines immediately convened in Havana to collude with their Cuban partners and craft a strategy. It was a vulgar show of disrespect towards President Trump and his Administration and a reflection of where their loyalties stood.
President Trump must understand the enforcement provisions like Titles III and IV in Helms-Burton are the will of Congress and, therefore, the will of the American people. Like Mr. Obama, he has a pen and phone. However, unlike Obama he can use these to enforce the law, rather than to subvert it.
We strongly urge President Trump to do so and protect American property. Property rights as much as guile and acumen made him a real estate tycoon. They are the cornerstone of American society and our prosperity. They are why America is that “shining city on a hill” to every immigrant.
President Trump must enforce existing law and allow Title III to go into effect against any American that traffics in stolen Cuban property. It is the rule of law and our equal protections under that law that make America great.
Javier Garcia-Bengochea, MD
Owner, The Port of Santiago de Cuba
Mickael Behn
Owner, The Havana Docks Corporation
Pictured below are the ports of Havana and Santiago before they were confiscated and in 2016 with Carnival’s Adonia docked at each. The late Mr. William Behn, owner of Havana Docks Corp., at his desk when Castro thugs came to steal his property.
