Vol. 74/No. 7      February 22, 2010

The People’s World, an online periodical reflecting the views of the CPUSA, explains that the case involves a civil suit filed in Miami in 2005 by Nilo Jerez, who alleged he had been mistreated during a three-month stay in a Cuban mental hospital in the 1970s. Jerez won the case by default. The Cuban government refused to participate in the legal proceedings, since it maintains U.S. courts have no legal jurisdiction over events in Cuba.

The People’s World article says the CPUSA is prepared to “file a motion to quash a subpoena that would require the party to produce financial and political documents. The legal filings also call for the party to produce a representative to give a deposition” on its relationships with entities in Cuba.

The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act passed under the William Clinton administration cleared the way for private citizens to sue foreign governments for so-called terrorist acts and triggered a flurry of lawsuits—and judgments—against Cuba.

In 2006 a judge in New York ordered payment of $91 million from frozen Cuban bank accounts to the families of two men—one of whom was a CIA pilot. Both died in Cuba as a result of their participation in the failed U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island in 1961.  
 
 
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