U.S. approves release of money in shoot-down suit

 BY JAY WEAVER

 The U.S. government on Monday authorized the historic transfer of $93 million in frozen Cuban assets
 to compensate three Miami families who won a wrongful-death lawsuit against Cuba for the shoot-down
 of two exile planes in 1996.

 "God willing, we will finally get the money for these families,'' said attorney Aaron Podhurst, one of a
 half-dozen Miami lawyers who represented the three victims' relatives. ``There were many people who didn't
 believe that justice would be done. It doesn't make up for the loss of lives, but our system does work.''

 The bank transfer of the funds, held by the United States since the Cuban trade
 embargo in the early 1960s, is scheduled for Friday. It will include $58 million in
 compensatory damages for the relatives of the three Brothers to the Rescue pilots
 shot down over international waters on Feb. 24, 1996, and an additional $35
 million in court-imposed sanctions against Fidel Castro's government.

 The unlocking of the Cuban accounts brings to an end the lengthy legal wrangling
 between the Clinton administration and the families' lawyers over collection of a
 1997 federal court judgment in Miami. The money, held in the Chase Manhattan
 Bank in New York, comes from long-distance telephone revenue paid by AT&T
 and other U.S. companies to the Cuban government.

 ``It sends the message to Cuba and other terrorist countries, `You do not kill
 Americans and not suffer the consequences,' '' said Podhurst's partner, attorney
 Victor Diaz.

 But under the provisions of the payout, the pilots' families will not receive another
 $137.7 million in punitive damages, as ordered by U.S. District Judge James
 Lawrence King in 1997. Their lawyers can attempt to collect the money from
 Cuban assets that are not part of the blocked bank accounts, but that is a nearly
 impossible task.

 FAMILY FOUNDATIONS

 The relatives of Brothers fliers Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre and Mario de la
 Peña plan to donate at least $15 million to family foundations benefiting
 scholarships for Cuban rafters, human rights causes and South Florida charities.
 The relatives also agreed to offer $3 million to the family of Pablo Morales, who
 was killed in the shoot-down. His family could not sue Cuba because he was not
 a U.S. citizen. His mother, Eva Barbas, has said the money should go to charity
 instead.

 SEARCH MISSIONS

 Brothers to the Rescue, based at Opa-locka Airport, regularly flies search
 missions over the Florida Straits looking for Cuban rafters.

 Maggie Khuly, the sister of Alejandre, said the victims' relatives cannot comment
 about the money because they are potential witnesses in the ongoing federal
 prosecution of five Cubans accused of spying on the U.S. government. One of the
 defendants allegedly conspired in the shoot-down.

 Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,
 said there was ``nothing new'' to add to the Castro government's stand. ``It was
 clear to us they were robbing money that belonged to the Cuban people,'' he said.

 Cuba's frozen assets were ultimately unlocked because of action by Congress in
 October, when lawmakers passed a bill making it easier for relatives of the victims
 of terrorism and former hostages to collect civil court damages from Cuba, Iran
 and other ``rogue states.'' But the legislation only took compensatory damages
 and sanctions into consideration, not punitive awards that are designed to punish
 for wrongdoing.

 The Clinton administration challenged the 1997 civil award so the assets could be
 used as a bargaining chip with post-Castro Cuba. It wasn't until Jan. 19 -- one day
 before he left office -- that President Clinton signed the executive order unfreezing
 the funds.

 Clinton's signature was not needed to compensate other victims of terrorism
 under the recent congressional act because the money came out of the U.S.
 Treasury.

 CASE AGAINST IRAN

 For example, eight families who won court judgments against Iran already have
 collected $213 million, plus interest. In those cases, the government, for the first
 time, fronted the money to the victims and assumed the responsibility of
 collecting the claims from Iran.

 The Anti-Terrorism Act in 1996 allowed victims to sue foreign countries for civil
 damages in U.S. courts if those nations were classified by the State Department
 as sponsors of terrorism.

 FINAL CHALLENGE

 But after their legal victories, the victims faced the challenge of collecting
 judgments because the U.S. government was averse to turning over these
 countries' frozen assets to pay court claims. Citing national security concerns,
 officials saw those assets as weapons for conducting foreign policy.

 In the Brothers to the Rescue case, it was all the more perplexing because the
 Clinton administration initially expressed sympathy for the victims' families and
 gave them $1.2 million in frozen Cuban assets -- the only other time that the
 government has tapped the blocked accounts.