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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://resumen-english.org/2023/01/cuba-vs-vulture-fund-the-island-fights-neoliberalism-in-london-trial/">resumen-english.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Cuba vs Vulture Fund: The Island Fights Neoliberalism in London Trial</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits"></div>By Alejandra Garcia on January 31, 2023</div><div class="gmail-content"><div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-wrapper2">
<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/resumen-english.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2-1-vulture-funds.jpg?resize=248%2C300&ssl=1" alt="" width="248" height="300"><br></p><p>In
the 2000s, a vulture fund succeeded in driving Argentina out of the
international markets, preventing it from accessing them for 12 years.
The case transcended as Argentina versus Elliott Management Corporation,
a group of investors that won a lawsuit against Buenos Aires in 2002
and, in 2012, even seized the <em>Libertad</em> frigate, the flagship of the Argentine Navy.<span id="gmail-more-22605"></span></p>
<p>The creator of the vulture fund, the American Paul Singer, refused to
restructure the Latin American nation’s debt and got the Argentine
State to pay him US$1.3 billion for bonds, which he bought at US$40
million during the crisis. This of course is perfectly legal and in line
with the blood sucking neoliberal policies promoted from the North.</p>
<p>Today, a new vulture fund is seeking to achieve the same results from
Cuba amid the island’s economic crisis, aggravated by the impact of the
pandemic and Washington’s hostile measures. On January 23rd, the High
Court of England and Wales accepted a lawsuit filed by the vulture fund
CRF1 Ltd against the government and Cuba’s Central Bank.</p>
<p>In an official statement, the first one released since the process
became known at the end of last year, the Superintendent of the Central
Bank of Cuba (BCC) indicated that the vulture fund, formed in 2009 in
the Cayman Islands, claims the payment of a debt of more than US$78
million.</p>
<p>CRF1 Ltd demands the sum for two loans and their interest, originally
granted to the island country by European banks in the 1980s, three
decades ago. According to the local press, the commercial loan was
issued in German marks (a currency that no longer exists) to the
Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz’s government.</p>
<p>The lawsuit was filed by the company at the time the National Bank
(BNC) had central bank functions, before its dissolution in the late
1990s and its replacement by the current Central Bank of Cuba (BCC).</p>
<p>“Cuba and its National Bank have never disowned their debts and have
always maintained an interest in negotiating with their legitimate
creditors. However, the island does not recognize CRF1 as a creditor of
the BNC or Cuba. It never has been,” the BCC stated.</p>
<p>In a press release, the bank’s directors described CRF as a “vulture
fund,” a company that purchases second-hand assets at low or auction
prices considered hard to recover.</p>
<p>Experts on Vulture Funds are claiming that if Cuba loses, it could
cost the island billions in overdue payments to other entities and, in
the worst case, lead to the seizure of government-owned assets, such as
oil tankers and incoming wire transfers.</p>
<p>According to Cuba, the claim will not proceed because the BNC would
not have the power to act on behalf of the Cuban government -which
issues the public debt- nor act without the prior consent of the
Ministry of Finance and the Council of Ministers. Nor is it able to
authorize the operation of the guarantees.</p>
<p>The ongoing trial in London adds one more pressure on the island,
which already is fighting the impact of the neoliberal whims as it tries
to rise from the crisis with its usual determination to achieve the
impossible.</p>
<p>Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US</p>
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