2 churches cited in Alliance fine get Cuba travel licenses anyway

2 churches cited in Alliance fine get Cuba travel licenses anyway
By Robert Marus

Published August 28, 2006

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- At least two congregations whose activities in Cuba
triggered a $34,000 fine for the Alliance of Baptists have been granted
their own travel licenses by the same agency that issued the fine.

The Treasury Department recently approved applications for
congregational travel licenses from the First Baptist churches of
Savannah, Ga., and Washington, D.C. But teams from both churches were
cited, in a July communique from officials at the department's Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as violating the terms of the Alliance's
group travel license while on mission trips to Cuba.

"I thought it was interesting that, as with one hand I was sending an
affidavit to … the attorney representing the Alliance of Baptists,
outlining the reasons why we didn't violate the travel restriction, with
the other hand I was opening an acceptance letter for our own license,"
said Jim Somerville, pastor of the Washington congregation, who said he
received his acceptance letter Aug. 22.

"Do we need to take this whole fine business seriously from an agency
that doesn't know what it's doing?" he continued. "Here with one hand
they're fining us, and with the other hand they're patting us on the
back saying, enjoy your trip to Cuba."

The Savannah congregation received its own individual license in March.
Shortly prior to that, Treasury Department officials acknowledged they
had been clamping down on Cuba travel for religious groups.

A Treasury official, however, said the license decisions reflected the
agency's flexibility, not confusion.

In June 2005, Treasury officials informed the Alliance of Baptists that
its license for travel to Cuba had been suspended, pending the outcome
of an investigation into allegations that a group from Church of the
Covenant, an Alliance congregation in Birmingham, Ala., had misused its
license to visit tourist sites.

Since then, several other religious organizations with long track
records of work in Cuba have been denied travel licenses. The groups
include the American Baptist Churches, the United Methodist Church, the
Disciples of Christ and the National Council of Churches.

Due to the U.S. government's economic embargo on Fidel Castro's
communist regime and corresponding travel restrictions, religious groups
must use renewable travel permits for religious activity to enable U.S.
citizens to travel to Cuba. The permits are granted through OFAC.

At issue is a change in OFAC's interpretation of its own policy for Cuba
licenses. Under the change, denominational bodies and other religious
groups that are not local congregations have been instructed to apply
for their licenses under a different part of the department's
regulations than the section under which they had previously applied.
The old section also was open to local congregations and placed few
restrictions on the number of members who could travel under the license.

But the new section under which groups like the Alliance must apply is
one designed for individuals traveling to Cuba for religious purposes or
"other religious organizations" that don't qualify under the first
section's definition of "religious organization" -- which has not
changed. The terms of those licenses are much more restrictive -- only
25 people per trip, no more than four trips per year, and the government
must know the names of individuals participating in the trips at the
time the applications are made.

The policy change has been greeted with protests from denominational
leaders as well as a bipartisan group of members of Congress. However,
Treasury has not changed its policy.

The Alliance's travel license expired before Treasury officials replied
about the status of the investigation, according to Executive Director
Stan Hastey.

Then, in July of this year, he received notice that the department would
impose the $34,000 fine on the Alliance -- nearly 10 percent of the
group's annual budget -- for violations by the Alabama congregation.
However, the letter also cited as violators the teams from the churches
in Washington and Savannah as well as from churches in Greenville, S.C.,
and Nashville. All of the teams traveled to Cuba under the Alliance's
license between 2003 and 2005.

The terms of the religious travel license dictate that license holders
participate in what OFAC calls "a program of full-time religious
activity." In their communication to Hastey, OFAC officials said
itineraries the teams provided to the government prior to their Cuba
trips indicated that team members engaged in tourist activities as well
as religious activities.

Hastey said many of the itinerary items Treasury officials apparently
interpreted as tourist activities were actually religious work. For
example, the team from Alabama stayed in Varadero, a beach town near
Havana, one night. Hastey said that was because a Presbyterian guest
house is located in Varadero and is convenient to a nearby Baptist
church the team had visited in exploring a congregational partnership.

Somerville said his Washington church's team, which visited Cuba in
2005, also participated in some activities that could be interpreted as
tourist in nature but were integral to the team's purpose of partnering
in ministry with the William Carey Baptist Church in Havana.

"Yes, one day we went to Old Havana, partly because our host [the Cuban
church's pastor] said the best way you can partner with us is to learn
about the history and the customs and the culture of the Cuban people,"
Somerville said. He noted the pastor suggested visiting cultural
institutions and markets in Havana to "find out who we are."

He continued: "But what did we do that was so dangerous? Well, we had a
meal on the plaza at the Cathedral of San Cristobal, we visited the art
museum and the Museum of the Revolution. Those are not strictly
religious activities -- you could say that -- and yet within the context
of what we were trying to do, [they were] perfectly respectable and
understandable."

Molly Millerwise, a Treasury Department spokesperson, said Aug. 24 that
the agency doesn't discuss individual cases of organizations suspected
of Cuba embargo violations. She has previously told Associated Baptist
Press that helping fund the totalitarian Castro regime by pumping
dollars into the Cuban economy is exactly the sort of thing the embargo
is meant to prevent.

Millerwise also asserted it was not a sign of government confusion over
Cuba policy that churches that previously have been cited as violators
of a Cuba travel license have now received their own. "A finding of
violation from OFAC does not necessarily preclude an entity from ever
again obtaining a license from OFAC," she said in an e-mail. "And
actually, in some cases an entity that has received a penalty for
violating an OFAC regulation may know better than most how to steer
clear of unauthorized transactions."

But Somerville said he believes the Treasury Department was targeting
Hastey and the Alliance because the group has spoken out forcefully
against the government's Cuba embargo in the past.

"It does sound like it's politically motivated. I think they're trying
to teach Stan a lesson," he said.

Alliance officials have until early September to reply to the fine
notice. Hastey said they will appeal the decision through regular
Treasury Department channels but also are considering other options. The
group's board meets Sept. 14-16 in Silver Spring, Md., and Hastey said
the directors will consider any other responses to the situation then.

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