His return to island likely violates embargo

By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau

Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo, a controversial Cuban exile who returned to the island two years ago to join the dissident movement, said Monday that the U.S. Treasury Department warned he could be prosecuted or fined for living in Cuba.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo, a permanent resident of the United States, fought alongside Fidel Castro to overthrow Fulgencio Batista's government. He later broke with Castro and spent 22 years in a Cuban prison after an ill-fated attempt to start an insurrection on the island.

After 17 years in Miami, he announced during a trip to Cuba in August 2003 that he would remain there as a dissident. Now U.S. government officials say he could be violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

In November, the Treasury Department sent Gutiérrez-Menoyo a letter that said the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control "has reason to believe" that he is subject to U.S. jurisdiction because he is a permanent resident.

A representative of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana gave Gutiérrez-Menoyo the Treasury Department letter late last year. Gutiérrez-Menoyo decided to go public with it Monday, because his daughter Patricia Gutiérrez-Menoyo has written federal assets control officials and has not received a response, his daughter said.

Patricia Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who lives in Puerto Rico, said that the letter accusing her father of skirting the U.S. embargo ignores the fact that Gutiérrez-Menoyo is in Cuba hoping to bring about change.

"He's not a tourist in Cuba, he's an opposition leader," she said. "He's not sunbathing in Varadero."

That characterization is one that many Cuban exiles in South Florida would dispute. For years, staunch anti-Castro activists in Miami have criticized Gutiérrez-Menoyo for seeking change in Cuba through dialogue with the Cuban government.

At the same time, Gutiérrez-Menoyo, founder of the Miami-based Cambio Cubano, has run afoul of Cuban officials, who have yet to grant him legal status there, his daughter said.

The Treasury Department letter, dated Nov. 23, 2004, was provided by the Gutiérrez-Menoyo family.

"It has been reported to OFAC that you have remained in Cuba since [Aug. 8, 2003] and that you may have established a residence in Cuba," the letter read.

According to the letter, Gutiérrez-Menoyo "presumably" went to Cuba in 2003 under a general license from the Treasury Department that allowed him to visit family, but new Treasury regulations that went into effect on June 30, 2004 require people traveling from the U.S. to Cuba to visit family to obtain a specific license. They are also limited to one visit every three years.

Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo has returned to the United States twice since August 2003, Patricia Gutiérrez-Menoyo said. He made the first visit in July 2004 and has since renewed his expired green card, she said.

Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said she could not comment on Gutiérrez-Menoyo or speculate on possible government action against him.

Under federal law, U.S. citizens and permanent residents who violate the terms of licenses issued by the Treasury Department or violate provisions of the embargo can face civil penalties up to $65,000 and criminal penalties of up to $250,000 in fines or up to 10 years in prison, she said in an e-mail.

Patricia Gutiérrez-Menoyo said her letters to federal assets control officials have gone unanswered. She first wrote when the office froze the Miami bank account of Cambio Cubano in October 2003 without an explanation. She then sent a letter on Jan. 20 about the Treasury Department letter but also has not received a response to it, she said.

Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.

Copyright © 2005