Seaboard Marine Is 31st Libertad Act Lawsuit- Plaintiff Targets Mariel Special Economic Zone Operations

Miami, Florida-based Seaboard Marine is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merriam, Kansas-based Seaboard Corporation (2019 revenues of US$6.8 billion). Butterball Turkey is a subsidiary of Seaboard Corporation. Seaboard Corporation 2019 Annual Report: "At Seaboard Marine, our container line operating throughout the Americas surpassed $1 billion in revenues despite fierce competition for market share by both regional and global carriers. We run multiple routes from six U.S. ports to 26 countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America."  

ODETTE BLANCO DE FERNANDEZ née BLANCO ROSELL, Plaintiff, v. SEABOARD   MARINE, LTD., Defendant. [1:20-cv-25176; Southern Florida District] 

Horr, Novak & Skipp, P.A. (plaintiff)
Law Offices of John S. Gaebe (plaintiff)
Berliner Corcoran & Rowe (plaintiff)
Fields (plaintiff)

LINK To Complaint
LINK To Libertad Act Lawsuit Filing Statistics

LINK To Mariel Special Economic Zone

Excerpts:

THE CONFISCATED PROPERTY 38. Plaintiff, a U.S. national as defined by 22 U.S.C. § 6023(15)(A), owns claims to the Confiscated Property, which includes a 70-year Concession to develop docks, warehouses and port facilities on Mariel Bay.  A. Maritima Mariel SA and the 70-Year Concession 39. Maritima Mariel SA (“Maritima Mariel”) was a Cuban corporation set up in 1954 and owned in equal parts by the Blanco Rosell Siblings, including Plaintiff. 

The fact of the confiscation of the Blanco Rosell Siblings’ property in Cuba was so well known that on April 18, 2019, the day after the Trump Administration announced it would allow Helms-Burton Act lawsuits under Title III to go forward, stories published on both Radio Marti and TV Marti identified Plaintiff’s claims to the Confiscated Property, that comprise the current Mariel Special Development Zone, as one of the top 10 potential Helms-Burton Claims: The Mariel Special Development Zone, the star Cuban project to attract investment, was built on nationalized land where the Carranza-Bernal, Carbonell-González and Blanco-Rosell families owned sugar and hemp processing plants.1 

THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT INCORPORATED THE CONFISCATED PROPERTY INTO THE ZONA ESPECIAL DE DESAROLLO MARIEL (“ZEDM”) (a/k/a MARIEL SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE) 54. The Zona Especial de Desarollo Mariel (“ZEDM”) (a/k/a Mariel Special Economic Zone) is an agency or instrumentality of the Cuban Government. Created by statute, the ZEDM is a special economic zone in Cuba with its own legal structure.  55. As stated above, the ZEDM has been referred to in the media as “the star Cuban project to attract investment.” See supra, ¶ 51. 

SEABOARD MARINE’S TRAFFICKING 63. Seaboard Marine has, since at least May 2019, trafficked in the Confiscated Property, by purposefully directing container ships from the port of New Orleans, Louisiana to Mariel, Cuba, either directly or by causing, directing, participating in, or profiting from trafficking by or through another person. When in Mariel, the container ships dock at, and/or otherwise use, benefit, and profit from the container terminal in the ZEDM including the ZEDM’s ports, docks, warehouses, and facilities. Seaboard Marine also engages in commercial activities using or otherwise benefitting from the ZEDM and Plaintiff’s Confiscated Property. 

Even after Defendant Seaboard Marine and non-party Seaboard Corp. received Plaintiff’s Notice Letters, giving them actual notice of Plaintiff’s claims, Defendant Seaboard Marine and non-party Seaboard Corp. continued to traffic in the Confiscated Property.  69. By way of example, on or about November 17, 2020, the container ship NORD BALTIC, International Marine Organization (“IMO”) number 9241475, navigated from the Napoleon Container Terminal in New Orleans to the container terminal in the ZEDM on or about November 21, 2020 for the benefit and/or profit of Seaboard Marine.