By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
Posted May 24 2007, 4:05 PM EDT
MIAMI -- A federal judge said Thursday he needs more facts before
deciding whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction over a lawsuit from three
Cuban men, who say Havana's communist government forced them into
virtual slavery to pay off a debt to a Curacao shipbuilding company.
Among the key issues, said Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence
King, is whether the arrangement was intended to circumvent the U.S.
economic embargo by allowing Cuba to profit from work done in Curacao on
American cruise and merchant vessels.
``That is one of the primary problems I'm having,'' King told attorneys
at a hearing. ``I believe that I'd be more comfortable if the record
were developed more fully.''
King postponed ruling on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by
Curacao Drydock Co. to give lawyers for the three Cuban men time to
collect more evidence on the issue of U.S. legal jurisdiction. Curacao
is a self-governing Dutch island in the Lesser Antilles off Venezuela's
coast.
The three Cuban men, who all now live in Florida _ Alberto Justo
Rodriguez, Fernando Alonso Hernandez and Luis Alberto Casanova _ claim
they were among hundreds of men forced by Cuba to work at Curacao
Drydock and threatened with prison or worse if they refused.
They say they worked 112-hour weeks at hard labor, were watched by armed
Cuban guards and were forced to watch videotapes of long speeches by
Cuban President Fidel Castro.
The arrangement _ a conspiracy, according to lawyers for the men _ was
Cuba's way of paying off a debt for a drydock installation the company
had built some years earlier near Havana.
The Cuban Interests Section, which represents the Castro government in
Washington, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
Curacao Drydock attorney Stephanie Traband called the claims ``wild
allegations'' and insisted the company had a legitimate labor contract
with Cuba that had little connection to the United States and no intent
to skirt the U.S. embargo.
She said U.S. interests account for about 10 percent of the company's
business and that it has no permanent presence in South Florida.
``It is undisputed that the U.S. considers Cuba an enemy, but that is
not the case with the rest of the world,'' Traband said. ``The rest of
the world does business with Cuba.''
But Seth Miles, one of the Cuban plaintiffs' lawyers, said even the 10
percent figure could mean ``tens of millions of dollars'' in U.S.
business for Curacao Drydock. He noted that the company has filed
lawsuits in U.S. federal courts seven previous times seeking relief for
various claims of its own.
``They can't have it both ways. They are engaged to a very high
degree,'' Miles said.
King ordered that Miles and other lawyers for the Cuban workers be given
time to find more evidence on the company's U.S. links. The company has
also argued that the case should be dismissed because there is an
adequate legal forum in Curacao for the lawsuit to be considered, but
King said the jurisdiction issue must be settled first.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-524cubaslavery,0,5014391.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba
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