Although we are waiting for the finalization of a bill in Tallahassee and of an agreement between the Dolphins and Miami-Dade County, we will start by meeting with many of the parties involved in both sides of the issue.

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21010039203441/so-fla-organization-announces-panel-to-investigate-sun-life-renovation/

via News & Views: Voter Purging.

via News & Views: Jeb Bush For VP?.

Marili Cancio interviewed by Marianela Toledo for Watchdog (En Español)

Many of Gadaffi’s relatives are also listed on the SDN list.

And guess who is not on it? Fidel and Raul Castro.                         

What is SDN? No, it’s not a sexually-transmitted disease but a list of individuals and entities that comprise a list regulated by OFAC.

What is OFAC? Directly from the US Treasury’s website: “The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes, [such as Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba] terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States. OFAC acts under Presidential national emergency powers, as well as authority granted by specific legislation, to impose controls on transactions and freeze assets under US jurisdiction. Many of the sanctions are based on United Nations and other international mandates, are multilateral in scope, and involve close cooperation with allied governments.”

Businesses and professionals have to know their customers and sometimes they’re are not even customers but if you fail to take certain steps, such as obtaining a special OFAC license when you deal with certain countries such as Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Syria, it can cost you dearly. It can cost you dearly even if you are a American citizen victim of one of those regimes as I will explain.

What is a SDN?

As part of its enforcement efforts, OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called “Specially Designated Nationals” or “SDNs.” Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them. [U.S. Treasury 09-10-02]

Essie and Iran 

Most American women are familiar with the Essie brand of nail polishes. Apparently the women in Iran also have a demand for the product as Essie Cosmetics and one of its officers were slapped with a penalty of $750,000 for having sent three shipments of the polish worth about $30,000 during a three month period between September 2009 and January 2010. Good thing that neither the company nor its officer had previously violated OFAC regulations and they were awarded by a reduction in penalty to only $450,000 as settlement of allegations involving unlicensed exports to Iran in violation of the Iranian Transaction Regulations (the “ITR”) administered by OFAC.

Richland Trace Homeowners Association and the Former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor

This is case that will send chills to the local condo associations, homeowner associations, and local attorneys in South Florida. Can you imagine having a dead-beat neighbor who fails to pay maintenance fees and when the homeowner’s (or condo) association forecloses on its lien and collects funds to get “reimbursed” they are slapped with an OFAC penalty? It’s true.
This is the summary obtained from the US Treasury site: “Richland Trace Homeowners Association, Inc., Dallas, TX, has been assessed a penalty of $9,000 for violating the Former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 593 (the “Regulations”). Richland Trace used $9,500 of the proceeds from the February 3, 2009, sale of property in which a person designated pursuant to Executive Order 13348, Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting the Importation of Certain Goods from Liberia, had an interest, to reimburse itself for past assessments and late fees that had accrued against the property since December 2005. As a result, OFAC determined that Richland Trace violated the prohibition against dealing in blocked property.”

CUBA

Then there is Cuba, a place near and dear to my heart.  The land where my parents and grandparents were born. A place only 90 miles from our Florida coast yet so foreign and distant.  A place I refuse to visit until it is a free country: a country free of the Castro brothers and free of political prisoners, including American Alan Gross.

There is even a special hotline in Miami to report OFAC violations related exclusively to Cuba. There are 36 entities in Cuba in the SDN list and about 65 individuals worldwide. Go figure, neither Fidel and Raul Castro – nor any other individual with the last name of Castro is on the SDN list.

Metropolitan Life got in trouble for sending a $30,000 life insurance benefit to someone in Cuba; the New York branch of Commerzbank AG had to pay a $175,000 fine for trading a letter of credit that contained the name of an individual on the SDN and a vessel also on the list. There are others of course, mostly related to big banks which fail to follow regulations.

 Ana, Cuba and OFAC

Now I get to the story of  Ana Margarita Martinez, a mother, grandmother, Cuban-American raised in Miami, patriotic, conservative, religious, a victim and a plaintiff.  Many have heard of the shoot-down by the Cuban government of two American planes of the organization Brothers to the Rescue, carrying American citizens in 1996. My cousin Sylvia Goudie de Iriondo, Andres Iriondo and the pilot Jose Basulto and co-pilot Arnaldo Iglesias were on the third plane that was fortunate to avoid the MIGs and returned safely to Miami. They were over international waters. Nothing ever happened to the murderers of our 4 heroes. Ana Margarita awoke that morning to find out that her husband was missing. He was a volunteer with the organization Hermanos al Rescate (“Brothers to the Rescue”) which specialized in flying over the Florida straits to look for desperate Cubans who took to the ocean in rafts – thousands and thousands have died trying.  Ana’s husband was a Cuban spy – we came to learn – who cowardly returned to Cuba. Ana obtained a judgment of over $20M against the Cuban government for having perpetrated such a travesty against her and her family. The Cuban pilots who shot the planes down are also not on the SDN list.

 So what does OFAC and Ana have in common? Well, the Obama administration and OFAC interceded – and prevailed – to keep Ana from enforcing writs of garnishment to collect her judgment against the Cuban government because she didn’t have an OFAC license. Here is a link to the Judge’s order. If I were a trial lawyer, I would have volunteered to appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a basic principal in law that when the letter of the law and its intent are at odds, that the intent should prevail. The goal of OFAC is to enforce economic sanctions pursuant to our foreign policy against target foreign countries and enemy regimes – such as Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan – not against innocent U.S. citizens as in Ana’s case.

 Please help me get a response from our government officials as to why Fidel and Raul Castro are not on the Specially Designated Nationals’ list. It is time to revise OFAC and what it stands for and with whom it stands.

Some of the harshest criticism against you is coming from people whose friends or business partners are profiting from the whole Cuban tragedy or whose entire political careers exist because of their Cuban views. They may proclaim to be lobbyists for a free Cuba, they may want to impose penalties for people who do business with the island but deep down somebody’s pockets or political careers are fueled by one single issue. Cuba. Frankly, I am tired of the exploitation. I want a free Cuba, I want awareness and recognition of what happens with political dissidents in the island, I want big foreign companies that profit from their dealings to do something positive for the Cuban people and their freedom. Attacking you is not going to accomplish any of those goals – to the contrary.

The legality of the new law has been questioned by Miami-Dade County Attorney so why weren’t those voices as loud to criticize county government for raising the same concerns weeks ago? It is an election year indeed – not for you Governor but for many of the politicos surrounding you yesterday at the bill’s signing. The island of Cuba was abandoned by the US government – lead by Democrat President Kennedy – when he failed to back up the Bay of Pigs veterans. For over 50 years the Cuban community has yearned for a free Cuba. It is not you, who stood against tyranny and stood up for political freedom by signing the bill who is to blame for where the Cuban people stand today – both here and in Cuba. You are responsible for improving jobs in our State, for creating transparency in government and for working for a better Florida.

I can’t wait to go to Cuba with you and Ann when it’s free of the Castro’s regime, when the Cuban activists “Damas de Blanco” (Ladies in White) and the Cuban-American activists from MAR por Cuba who dress in black as a mourning sign – can parade in colorful dresses to jointly walk down the “Malecón” without fear of reprisal along with all freed political prisoners. One day soon Cuba will be the largest trading partner with Florida and both our economies will boom as Cuba is re-built from the ashes of communism.

You already signed the bill Governor. Thank you Amigo for making it a law.

Viva Florida and Viva Cuba Libre.

LET’S GET BACK TO WORK!

Marili Cancio is the daughter of Cuban exiles, born in Miami, a Republican activist, VP of the Women’s Republican Club of Miami, Federated, REC/FFRW/OCWRC member, corporate attorney and a fan of capitalism and Gov. Rick Scott. She’s also a member of the Florida Lawyers for Romney, Social Conservatives for Romney and Miami-Dade C0unty Co-Chair for George Lemieux for U.S. Senate. My view are my own!

“Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it ” Mark Twain

Meet the candidates running against US Rep Debbie Wasserman Shultz:
Osvaldo deFaria, Jr.
Juan Eliel Garcia
Karen Harrington
Joe Kaufman
Carl Mathiesen

Moderator: Jim DeFede, CBS4 News Investigative Reporter

Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus
415 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Room 6001, Miami, FL 33132
(Door to the left of entrance to Culinary Institute – $7 Valet)

Reception to follow

For more information, please contact:
Angela Vazquez, President – (786) 344-2305 
angelamyrealtor@hotmail.com

OPED to Miami Herald – 3/20/12

Re: Federal Election Commission-Corruption (“FEC”) and Roly keeps on rolling.

Much is written about campaign finance laws, crooked politicians, deceptive election tactics so your readers should know what happens when someone violates Federal election laws or more precisely Section 2 of the United States Code §§ 432 (e)(1), 433(a) and 434(a). Well, it depends. In this case, if you were trying to help the same political party as President Obama, the answer is absolutely nothing.

That is the outcome of the complaint I filed against a democrat plant called Roly Arrojo (I’m simply going to call him “Roly” as I am not sure that’s even his legal name).

In 2010, I ran for U.S. Congress. It was the election two years after Hope and Change when the tea party movement and regular Conservatives where up in arms against  rampant spending and the passage of the job-killing health care law. As a “newbie” as your newspaper called me, I had no prior campaign experience and relied on the generosity of friends and family who were also not experienced in the political process. My campaign treasurer, a respected and knowledgeable CPA, who had never before (and will probably never again) handle a campaign account had an issue and filed my campaign’s final report a couple of days late. As treasurer, he was fined a couple of hundred dollars for the tardiness.

Meanwhile there was “Roly”, a “tea party” candidate who nobody seemed to know. He had filed no financial reports whatsoever, never appeared at any debates or answered to newspapers requests for interviews. The rumors, which were later confirmed, were that the Democrats had signed him up to syphon tea party-republican votes from the GOP candidate and being a tight political race (which proved not to be) this could have meant victory to Democrat candidate Joe Garcia. Let’s be fair, Republicans are also known to play these games and it is perfectly legal. The illegal aspect was Roly’s failure to file financial disclosures.

My FEC complaint against Roly included proof in the form of a printed flyer that not only showed his campaign had spent money on printing materials but also postage. Months went by and I didn’t hear anything about the complaint but I was sure expecting that Roly would in the very least receive a monetary fine.

The FEC’s letter to me was probably lost in the mail as I only found out today of the outcome of the case by looking it up on the FEC’s website.

As an attorney I got excited reading the opinion as the FEC found Roly and his campaign guilty of violating various election laws but pursuant to their  Enforcement Priority System (“EPS”) they chose to dismiss both complaints against Roly who in response to my complaint had said that it was “baseless and incorrect.” The FEC took him at his word that he had not spent more than $5,000 (although their opinion contradicts that finding as the FEC acknowledged that Roly paid more than $10,000 just to get on the ballot) and used its EPS to unanimously dismiss the case and take no action whatsoever.

Bottom line, our system is completely broken. People like me who play by the rules get penalized but those of make a complete mockery of the system get away without any consequences whatsoever. It weakens our system as voters get a little more disenchanted and voter turn-out goes down even more.

Get ready for more shenanigans as 2012 elections are around the corner and who needs ACORN when EPS can give you a free pass from jail and the Roly’s will keep on rolling over us.