NEW ORLEANS - A lengthy lawsuit was filed in New Orleans federal court seeking damages under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (LIBERTAD) by multiple plaintiffs.
According to documents filed on Feb. 17, defendants A.P. Moller-Maersk, the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and the Maersk Agency, a Denmark-based group specializing in global goods transportation, are guilty of trafficking property that was confiscated from deceased people by the Cuban Government in 1959.
The decedents owned many businesses, including a sugar mill and a maritime development company, as well as 11,000 acres of land, all of which were confiscated by the Cuban Government in 1959, the suit claims. The confiscated property has never been returned nor has any compensation been made to the decedents or the decedents' estates, the suit says.
Trafficking property confiscated by the Cuban government is prohibited by the Helms-Burton Act.
The defendants are accused of knowingly and intentionally directing container ships that contained the confiscated property from the Port of New Orleans to the Port of Mariel in Cuba.
The decedents and their respective estate representatives are: Alfredo Blanco Rosell Jr represented by Emma Ruth Blanco; Byron Blanco Rosell represented by Hebe Blanco Miyares; Enrique Blanco Rosell represented by Sergio Blanco De La Torre; and Florentino Blanco Rosell represented by Eduardo Blanco De La Torre.
Odette Blanco de Fernandez is the only living member of the group that owned the confiscated property at 91 years old.
The representatives of the decedents' estates are seeking damages under the Helms-Burton Act. They are represented by: Pusateri, Johnston, Guillot and Greenbaum LLC of New Orleans; Berliner, Corcoran and Rowe LLP of Washington, DC; and Fields PLLC of Washington, DC.