Venezuelan assets at risk by lawsuit filed by Cuban MDs

February 25, 2010 4:36 AM

Venezuela's assets abroad could be frozen if the Federal Court in Miami pronounces an unfavorable judgment against Cuba, Venezuela and the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) for alleged conspiracy to force doctors and workers of the health mission called Barrio Adentro to work in conditions of "modern slaves."

The statement was made by Leonardo Cantón, a Coral Gables lawyer who represents the seven Cuban doctors and a nurse, who were former workers of Barrio Adentro Mission (MBA) between 2004 and 2008. The group filed a lawsuit seeking at least USD 50 million for each plaintiff. The group argues that during their stay in Venezuela they were forced into slave labor and live in overcrowding conditions.

Cantón said that "the amount sought in the lawsuit could triple, and Pdvsa assets in the United States could be seized if the court rules in favor of Cuban doctors."

Cantón said in a press conference that the notification will be handed over this week to the governments of Cuba and Venezuela, and the state-run oil company Pdvsa.

From the moment of notification, defendants will have a period of 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. Failure to do so would be considered contempt and it would support a decision favorable to the plaintiffs, El Nuevo Herald said.

The case of Mission Barrio Adentro doctors is not the first related to "modern slavery" filed in a US Federal Court against Cuba. On the contrary, there have been several rulings that have led to compensations to the victims of Cuban government.

Cantón said that these precedents will be an important part of the plaintiff's case, Cantón highlighted. The attorney mentioned the case of three Cuban workers of the Curacao Drydock Company, a shipyard, whose work under "inhumane and degrading" conditions was used by Cuba to pay a multimillion-dollar debt with the private company whose large shareholder is the government of Netherlands Antilles. In 2008, a Miami federal judge ruled that the Curacao company should pay them USD 80 million.

Likewise, a US federal judge ruled in 2009 that a Cuban national who sued Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Che Guevara for the suicide of his father in 1959, should get more than USD 1 billion.

Another judge awarded a USD 253 million compensation in favor of the children of Cuban prisoner Rafael del Pino Siero, who died in prison after separating from the Castro regime un Cuba.

Rafael Cantón highlighted that if the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, they will seek to collect the money from Venezuelan or Cuban funds in the United States and the seizure of buildings and oil tankers.

(Source: Venezuelan newspaper EL UNIVERSAL)

24 February 2010