U.S. Federal Judge In Colorado Agrees To Enforce Part Of US$2.79 Billion Judgment Against Government Of Cuba For Torture.

Federal judge agrees to enforce part of $2.79 billion judgment against Cuba for torture, killing
Judge Nina Wang expressed uncertainty over how to proceed in the unique case against the government of Cuba

Civil Action No. 21-cv-02497-NYW-NRN: ALFREDO VILLOLDO, and GUSTAVO E. VILLOLDO, individually, and as Administrator, Executor, and Personal Representative of the Estate of Gustavo Villoldo Argilagos, Plaintiffs, v. THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, Defendant.

Colorado Politics
Colorado Springs, Colorado
14 March 2023
By Michael Karlik

Two brothers who have attempted for years to collect on a $2.79 billion judgment against the Cuban government received a favorable ruling from a federal judge in Colorado, who largely accepted Cuba's liability for torturing and extrajudicially killing members of the Villoldo family. At the same time, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang directed Alfredo and Gustavo E. Villoldo to explain what the "proper course of action" should now be, given the unusual nature of the brothers' case. "Despite this Court’s exhaustive independent research, the Court could not locate applicable authority directing the Court how to proceed in this instance," she wrote in a March 7 order.

The Villoldos asked Wang to confirm a Florida state judge's order that found the Cuban government liable under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which permits lawsuits against countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism. The Villoldos indicated the Cuban government or its agents likely hold "substantial assets" in financial institutions within Colorado. Wang agreed she could enforce the judgment for the torture of Gustavo Villoldo and the 1959 killing of Gustavo Villoldo Argilagos, the father of the plaintiffs. But she did not believe Alfredo Villoldo's treatment by the Cuban government amounted to torture under the law. Cuba did not appear in the original case in Florida, nor did it respond to the Villoldos' federal complaint in Colorado. The Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to a Spanish language inquiry about Wang's order.

The Villoldo brothers are U.S. citizens in their 80s whose family lived in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution's overthrow of the authoritarian government. Gustavo Villoldo Argilagos was a dual U.S. and Cuban citizen who studied in the United States and became a successful businessman upon his return to Cuba. The family's story was the subject of testimony in the Florida case. When Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries gained control of the government in 1959, they quickly targeted the Villoldo family because of its wealth and American ties. Soldiers abducted the younger Gustavo Villoldo and took him to the "Sports Palace," where they withheld food and water, interrogated him and staged "mock executions," before finally releasing him. His father, Gustavo Villoldo Arilagos, met with revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in February 1959, during which Guevara threated to kill the Villoldo family unless the elder Villoldo surrendered his assets and took his life. Early the next morning, Gustavo Villoldo Arilagos died by suicide.

In 2011, Gustavo and Alfredo Villoldo filed suit in Miami-Dade County for emotional distress, economic loss and wrongful death. The defendant, Cuba, did not respond to or appear in the case. The litigation also raised Cuba's attempts through 2003 to assassinate or threaten to assassinate Gustavo Villoldo in Miami. Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko sided with the brothers. She later amended her order in 2021, which awarded $2.79 billion to the Villoldos.

"This Court found that the torture inflicted by the Defendants began in January 1959 with the imprisonment and physical torture of the Villoldos that led to the suicide of Mr. Villoldo and the theft of the Villoldos' enormous wealth by the Republic of Cuba," Butchko wrote, "which was then used by Cuba to fund its efforts to support terrorism in Latin America and around the world."

The brothers then embarked on an effort to enforce Butchko's order in multiple federal courts, using the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution. Despite the Villoldos' efforts to serve the Cuban government with notice of the lawsuit, an effort that required the intervention of the State Department, Cuba did not respond to the brothers' filing in Colorado.

Wang performed her own legal analysis of the brothers' claims under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Although her findings were similar to Butchko's, they were not identical. Under the law, countries are not immune from being sued over acts of torture or extrajudicial killing under specific circumstances. They must be designated as state sponsors of terrorism "as a result" of their injury-causing actions, among other things. Relying on statements from academics and those with personal knowledge of the Reagan administration's 1982 designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, Wang was convinced the label was "a result" of Cuba's targeting of citizens with U.S. ties. "We decided to designate Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism to highlight and punish Cuba for these domestic and foreign abuses," testified Davis Rowland Robinson, a State Department official during the early 1980s, speaking about the Villodos' case.

Wang further found Gustavo Villoldo's treatment amounted to torture and the elder Gustavo Villoldo Arilagos' suicide was an act of the government, following Guevara's threat on his life. "This threat came after months of harassment targeting the Villoldo family and the imprisonment of Gustavo and Alfredo (including the torture of Gustavo), and was made in a time during which revolutionary agents were targeting individuals with ties to the United States and executing Cuban citizens and residents," Wang wrote. However, she did not believe Alfredo Villoldo's treatment fell under the legal definition of torture.

Because Butchko's multibillion-dollar award to the brothers included the improper finding that Alfredo Villoldo suffered torture, Wang noted that portion of the decision was "likely void." She was unable to find guidance from other courts about what to do under such circumstances and invited the plaintiffs to suggest a course of action. Lawyers for the Villoldos did not immediately respond to questions about what they will request that Wang do next, but attorney Charles B. Rosenberg called Wang's order an "important development in our clients’ years-long efforts to hold Cuba responsible for its heinous acts of terrorism."

LINK TO ORDER ON MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGEMENT (3/7/23) Villoldo et al. v. The Republic of Cuba.