The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutM-82-0169r r c! e W/ L VL VA_ Nerodd a_,'7_?,-I 3 Da a firms accused 1 of trading with th Cuba By JAY DUCASSI panies transferred more than 'And ALICE KLEMENT $43,000. No information was avail - Herald Stuff writers able on how the money was spent. • A Hialeah -based firm that flies Each transaction involved a com- U.S. tourists and Cuban exiles to mission, the indictment says. Havana. has been indicted by a As much as $14.000 was trans - Miami federal grand jury and ac- ferred at one time, the indictment cused of trading with the enemy says. This occurred May 16, 1980, during the Martel boatlift. I when Mirta Rodriguez transferred The 27-count indictment, uns- that amount to Juan Aurelio Rodri- • 'ealed by federal prosecutors Tues- guez in Cuba, the indictment stated. - day, charges American Airways The Rodriguezes and others Charters (AAC) with transferring named In the indictment were not 'funds to a Cuban government agen- charged with a crime and are ex- ' cy in order to bring undocumented pected to be government witnesses. aliens to the United States. AAC records list Fernando The indictment also charges two Fuentes as president, Frank Masdeu other Dade County travel agencies as vice president, Roger Dooley as that are now defunct, Canaveral vice president and treasurer, and Travel and Cuban American Enter- Fuentes' wife, Yolanda, as secre- prises, with violating the 1917 tar Trading with the Enemy Act and a The whereabouts of the officers regulation that bans spending of Canaveral Travel and Cuban money in Cuba to transport illegal American Enterprises, who are not r aliens. named in the indictment, are un- If convicted, AAC would face known. fines of up to $810,000; Canaveral, No officials from any of the firms up to $610,000 and Cuban Ameri- can Enterprises up to $210,000. could be reached for comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney David However, in an early February interview with The Herald, Masdeu Hammer, who led the 14•month t,,probe, said the government will im- acknowledged that his firm had mediately move to block AAC from been aware of an investigation for .• disposing of its assets before trial. same time. Masdeu also said that, with ten- •' The companies' are charged with conspiracy and engaging in illegal sions growing between Washington . transactions during afive-week p and Havana, company officials real- ized that AAC's continued existence t riod after the boatlift began in April in the United States depended on • 1980. ; The companies allegedly fun - how the political pendulum swung. ; neled money from Cubans in the To cover itself, Masdeu said, the • United States to relatives aboard company was looking into estab- •: boats in the port of Mariel through lishing Montreal -Havana and To - Centro Credito, identified in the in; ronto-Havana operations. :• dictment as a branch of the Cuban "That's just in case it gets too hot government. here," he said at the time. "I can al - The indictment alleges the com`& jays move to Canada." yyyy^^^^ 12 accused I Of trading with enem ~ Indictment names 4 firms, 8 persons ' By ALICE KLEMENT And JAY DUCASSI Herald Sfalf Writers A tour company thrown out of the United States two years ago as an illegal agent of the Cuban gow ernment is among four firms and eight persons indicted Wednesday on charges of trading with the enemy. A federal Grand Jury in Miami accused the companies and individ. tints of conspiracy and supplying merchandise to a Cuban -operated agency without authorization. Between March 1979 and June 1990, merchandise was shipped to the Cuban offices of Havanatur, 1 which was expelled from this coun- ty in 1979 on charges of being an il- legal agent of the Fidel Castro gov- ernment, according to the Indict- ment. Havanatur and its officers alleg. edly shipped supplies bought in the United States — such things as pho. tocopiers and spare airplane parts -- to its offices In Cuba aboard planes chartered from American Air Ways Charters (AAC). The government contends the ac- tions violated the 1917 Trading With the Enemy Act, which has been used successfully to prosecute boat owners who brought in undo- r:umented aliens during .the 1980 Mariel boatlift. The indicted individuals include four Havanatur officials who were based In Chile during the tenure of President Salvador Allende. They are Mirla Contreras Ropert, nicknamed La Payffa, Allende's per- sonal secretary; Carlos Alfonso Gonzalez, the self -described owner of Havanatur, identified by the State Department as a Cuban Intel- ligence agent; Charles Romeo. the company's Chilean -born president; and Jorge Debase, a Cuban citizen who directed the transfer of Ha- vanatur operations to Hialeah -based Travel Services after Havanatur :y was expelled. The four are accused of transfer- ring funds to Cuba for illegal pur- j • •• • • tho t—tlift of ports — to finance �..�... Cubans from Martel and of cart- spiring to defraud the U.S. govern- ment by transferring Havanstur's operations to other companies the tirm controlled. Two others indicted are Fernan- do l:uentes-Cobs and Roger Dooley of AAC, the company that ended up _ with the Havanatur concession after Travel Services, too, was ex - Veiled for being an Illegal Cuban agent. The Indictment also named the presidents of two now -defunct Miami travel agencies. Lourdes Rey Dopico, president of Canaveral -. Travel, and Orestes Ateman, presi- dent of Cuban American Enterpris- es, are charged with transferring funds to Cuba to bring In undocu- mented aliens during the boattift. The 35-count indictment was the result of a 14-month investigation by U.S. Customs agents. Customs officials said at a Miami press con - Terence Wednesday. Federal prosecutors admit many of those indicted may never be ap- prehended. "Some of the Cubans ) l are out of the country. This may keep them out completely," Assist- ant U.S. Attorney David S. Hammer said. James Schmand, special agent In charge of the Miami Customs of- fice, added: "According to our In- formation, some (of those indicted Wednesdayl are in Cuba" AAC officials could not be } reached for comment Wednesday evening. I Last week, AAC, Canaveral { • Travel and Cuban American Enter- prises were charged with violating the Trading With the Enemy Act by arranging to transfer money to an entity called Centro Credito to bring In undocumented aliens. ' Centro Credito was Identified in Wednesday's indictment sa a ' branch of Havanatur. Federal pros- ecutors, citing U.S. Treasury re- ports, said Havanatur Is controlled - t by the Cuban government. ; If convicted, Individuals and and —� companies alike face heavy penal- ties. Fuentes•Coba and Contreras could get jail sentences of as long as 55 years and fines topping > : •i230,000. Havanatur faces, a maxi ;,:mum fine of $380.000; AAC, $880,- 000; Canaveral Travel. $620,000; and Cuban American Enterprises, $220,000. No arraignment date has been set. Herald Staff Writer Joan Ffefsch- man contributed to this report. -40 (D MAILGRAM SERVICE j;w`,TER MIDDLETOWN# VA6 2c, 5 4.0387395057002 02/26/82 ICS IPMMTZZ CSP MIAB 1 3055796065 MGM TDMT MIAMI FL 02.26 0306P EST CITY OF MIAMI CITY CLERKS CFFICE S MENDOZA 3500 PANAMERICAN DR MIAMI FL 33133 A dp THIS MAILGRAM IS A CONFIRMATION COPY OF THE FOLLOWING MESSAGEI 3055796065 TDMT MIAMI FL 44 02-26 0306P EST PMS PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN WHITE HOUSE DC A MOTIO(4 OF THE CITY OF MIAMI CITY COMMISSION THANKING PRESIDENT REAGAN ON WE ALF OF THE CU@AN COMMUNITY OF THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR RECOGNIZING, IN NIS LAST SPEECH, THE PLIGHT OF MILLIONS OF CUBANS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR FREEDOM BECAUSE OF COMMUNISM RESPECTFULLY SIGNED MAYOR MAURICE A FERRE VICE MAYOR JOE CAROLLO COMMISSIONER J L PLUMMERF COMMISSIONER MILLER J DAOKINS COMMISSIONER DEMETRIO PEREZ JR BY RALPH G ONGIE CITY CLERK t5s07 ES1 MGNCOMP MGN '(A L - FREE PHUNE NUMURS -+M