| NEW
YORK - April 22 - Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) will file suit in the United States District Court in Washington
on behalf of an elderly couple from Michigan who lawyers say were
unfairly penalized under Cuba embargo regulations. Lawyers also
say the two were not informed of their Fifth Amendment rights,
protecting them from self incrimination.
Under the
existing economic embargo against Cuba, Americans are allowed
to travel to Cuba but are prohibited from spending any money.
Travelers are presumed to have spent money in Cuba unless they
can prove otherwise and can face large monetary travel fines.
The couple,
Kip, 73 and Patrick, 58 Taylor of Traverse City, MI, sailed
to Cuba on a boating trip in April 1996. Knowing that U.S. law
prohibited spending money in Cuba, they stocked their sailboat
with enough provisions to last for the duration of their three-month
trip. While sailing back to Florida from Cuba, their boat was
caught in a storm and struck by lightning that destroyed the
mast.
The Cuban
Coast Guard rescued them in international waters, and the boat
was towed back to port. However, when they applied to the Treasury
Department for permission to repair it, they were told to abandon
the boat—and their two dogs—in Cuba and fly back to
the U.S. After weeks of attempting to negotiate, unwilling to
leave their dogs and dismayed by a decision that would leave
in Cuba assets worth more than the costs of repairs, the Taylors
had the boat fixed. Many of the repairs were done by the Taylors
themselves with the help of visiting sailors who donated parts.
After their
return, the Taylors responded openly to every question asked
by government officers about their trip. The Taylors were never
told about their Fifth Amendment privilege to stay silent, their
right to counsel or that any statements or evidence produced
by them could be used against them in court.
Remarkably,
after disclosing that they gave band-aid to a local cook who
had burned his finger in an accident, The Taylors were charged
with provision of “nursing services to a Cuban national”—a
transaction forbidden by the embargo. For the next four and
a half years, the Taylors—who are on a fixed income—requested
a reconsideration of the penalty or a hearing, without success.
In April, 2001, Patrick Taylors’ tax refund, needed to
pay for urgent medical expenses, was frozen and applied to the
Taylors’ debt.
"The
Center has long believed that the embargo is ill advised, illegal
and unconstitutional in that it infringes on the right of every
American to travel freely, said Ron Daniels, Executive Director,
Center for Constitutional Rights. “The way the embargo
regulations are worded makes it very difficult to figure out
what the law is and how to comply with it. Nonetheless, the
Taylors made exceptional efforts to comply despite an incredible
stroke of bad luck. The Taylors' experience is a glaring example
of how the rights of American citizens can be trampled by this
embargo."
Shayana
Kadidal, an attorney at CCR said, "In practice, the embargo
has been applied primarily to make examples out of ordinary
travelers for political gain, rather than to limit the influx
of dollars into the Cuban economy. The Treasury Department's
reaction to the Taylors' plight-requiring them to abandon an
easily repaired $40,000 asset to avoid spending money in Cuba
is not only irrational and inhumane, but is profoundly inconsistent
with the alleged purpose of the embargo."
The Center
for Constitutional Rights represents almost 300 travelers who
are being investigated or prosecuted by the Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the
Treasury (which enforces the embargo) for allegedly spending
money in Cuba.
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