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NEWS
Lawsuit claims
Cuba forced citizens to work at Curacao shipyard
By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
28 October 2006
MIAMI (AP) - In December 2001, Cuban officials abruptly summoned Alberto
Rodriguez to a meeting at the Ministry of Transport and told him he was
being sent to work at a shipyard on Curacao. Over the next three years,
Rodriguez claims he and dozens of other men were held as virtual slaves,
forced to work long hours for pennies a day in dangerous conditions.
Rodriguez, who escaped in October 2004, and two other Cubans who were
sent to the shipyard say they suffered serious injuries, were not
permitted to move freely in Curacao and were forced to watch videotapes
of hours-long speeches of Cuban President Fidel Castro "extolling the
virtues of the Revolution."
"They humiliated us. They exploited us," Rodriguez said in an interview.
Now, Rodriguez and the others have filed a federal lawsuit in Miami
seeking unspecified damages from the Curacao Drydock Co. for what they
claim was a conspiracy in which Cuba provided low-cost, forced labor in
return for hard currency desperately sought by the communist Havana
government.
"Curacao Drydock Co. knew that the Cuban laborers that the Cuban
government provided to it were not free individuals but subjects of the
Cuban totalitarian regime, who were compelled to perform the will of the
Cuban state," said their lawsuit, filed by Miami attorney John Andres
Thornton.
If the men refused to work, they could be thrown in prison back in Cuba
or not permitted to get other work and their family members could be
affected as well, Thornton said. Cuba also has agents in Curacao who
keep watch on the laborers, which number anywhere from 50 to 100 at a
time, he said.
"Forced labor is a modern variant of slavery," Thornton said.
Curacao is a self-governing Dutch island in the Lesser Antilles off
Venezuela's coast. Curacao Drydock bills itself on its Internet site as
"The First Choice in the Caribbean" for shipyard repair, including work
for U.S.-based cruise lines, oil companies and shipping firms.
In a written statement provided by its Miami attorneys to The Associated
Press, Curacao Drydock said it strives to "maintain the highest
achievable standards of safety work habits" and that all personnel are
trained in safety policies. The statement said many of the lawsuit's
allegations were focused on Cuba and not the company.
"Nevertheless, the company is undertaking a full investigation into the
allegations," the statement said.
The company's Internet site also includes details about a "family day"
held in September in which about 500 employees and their families took
part in "dancing, singing, eating and drinking" and "getting to know
each other in a different atmosphere."
Three telephone calls to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington
seeking Cuban government comment were not returned.
The picture painted by Rodriguez and fellow plaintiffs Fernando Alonso
and Luis Casanova is of a hellish place in Curacao where fear and
intimidation ruled and the working conditions were terrible.
The three Cubans say they worked 112 hours a week at hard labor, often
in intense heat, sometimes on scaffolds and sometimes suspended by
ropes. Rodriguez broke his foot and ankle in 2002 while scraping rust
from the hull of a ship, was sent back to Cuba to recover and then
ordered back to Curacao, according to the lawsuit.
In late 2004, Casanova said he suffered a 220-volt electric shock "so
severe that electricity shot out his tongue." But with "blood streaming
down from this mouth and soaking his shirt, (Casanova) was ordered back
to work to finish the last hours of his 16-hour shift."
Alonso and Casanova escaped in early 2005.
After the three escaped, "wanted" flyers were circulated in Curacao and
several other shipyard workers who were believed to have assisted in the
escapes were returned to Cuba and probably imprisoned, the lawsuit says.
The trio made it to a U.S. Embassy in an unnamed third country where, in
February, the U.S. government granted them parole and visas to enter the
United States. As Cubans, they will most likely be given permanent U.S.
residency status.
The federal court in Miami has jurisdiction in the case under
international law banning forced labor and because Curacao Drydock
provides services to U.S.-based companies and has an office in South
Florida, Thornton said.
"Our position is that the entire endeavor was explicitly directed at the
U.S. because it was done to reach the U.S. market," he said.
The lawsuit also claims that a senior company manager is one of Castro's
nephews and is thus able to "commandeer forced Cuban labor."
Attorneys for Curacao Drydock have asked U.S. District Judge James
Lawrence King to dismiss the case, contending among other things that
such a lawsuit should be filed in Curacao and that the only connection
between the company and the United States "is the fact that the
plaintiffs now happen to reside there."
"Simply put, there is no aspect of (Curacao Drydock's) business
operations that would cause it to be subject to this court's general
jurisdiction," attorneys Matthew Triggs and Stephanie Reed Traband said
in court papers.
No court dates have been set in the case.
-----
Curt Anderson have covered legal issues in Miami and Washington since
2002.
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