Although the supposed success of the Cuban State in the trial for non-payment of a debt of 72 million euros to the investment fund CFR I Limited was partial, the official press has insisted on presenting it as a resounding victory for the regime, which contrasts with the “failure” of other countries to face justice in the London High Court. This Thursday, cubadebate exposed the result of a similar trial carried out against Argentina, which did not suffer the same “luck” as the Island and is obliged to pay 1,330 million euros to its creditors.
In his article –plagiarized with very few variations from the Buenos Aires newspaper Page 12–, cubadebate regrets that Argentina has failed in the judicial process against the funds Palladian Partners LP, HBK Master Fund LP, Virtual Emerald International Limited and Hirsh Group LLC, which are demanding the payments of bonds that were issued to exchange, in turn, debts from 2005 and 2010. The court determined that the Argentine State had to pay the indicated amount, but did not accuse it of “acting in bad faith.”
According to the newspaper, this is another attack by the “vulture funds”, a label that they also used to delegitimize the CFR I claim during the Cuban process in London. In his opinion, the court uses a “technical interpretation of a contract clause” to attack the Latin American country, which will appeal the sentence.
According to the newspaper, this is another attack by the “vulture funds”, a label that they also used to delegitimize the CFR I claim during the Cuban process in London
During the five-year period 2005-2010, Argentina carried out a titanic restructuring of its external debt through a system of swaps. One of the exchange mechanisms were the bonds dependent on the evolution of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With the growth of the Argentine GDP, the investment funds began to demand the payment of the bonds, and since the procedure was carried out under English legislation, the case was presented in London.
In their allegation, the investment funds pointed out an erroneous calculation in the growth rate of Argentine GDP in 2013, the result of which -below the real number- did not activate the payment alarms of the creditors. After the trial, the court accepted the argument of the investment funds but did not dare to ensure that the miscalculation was a strategy to evade the debt.
The outlet attributes the “prudence” of not directly accusing Argentina of altering the GDP growth rate to the alleged “political and criminal implications” of a British judge indicting a sovereign state for fraud.
The Argentine case – as well as the Cuban “victory” against CFR I – must activate, he points out cubadebate, a “vulture alert” in the region. It ensures that the investment funds that accused both States are located in “tax havens” such as the Cayman Islands and the state of Delaware, in the US, which are not required “any regulation”.
The official press manipulated the information and highlighted the dissociation of the State from the process by assuring that “the Republic of Cuba is out of the lawsuit.”
This Tuesday, the same London court ruled in favor of CFR I Limited, to whom the Island must pay 72 million dollars, but ruled that the debtor was not the Cuban State but the Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC), a largely part absorbed by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), whose management, ultimately, is state.
However, the official press manipulated the information and highlighted the disassociation of the State from the process by assuring that “the Republic of Cuba is out of the lawsuit.” Reluctantly, an article signed by the regime’s spokesman, Humberto López, who was part of the Havana delegation in London, admitted that “from now on the process will continue only against the Banco Nacional de Cuba.”
“Cuba won a technical point in this sentence,” said David Charters, president of CFR I Limited, but assured that he expected “a complete victory” for the investment fund. In addition, he was interested in finding a “solution” that would have the least possible impact on the “difficult economic situation that the country is going through.”
The trial in London became, for weeks, the center of attention of the independent media and the opposition. Meanwhile, the official press did everything possible to hide the seriousness of the situation and discredit the judicial process. However, it was difficult to disguise the fact that the country accumulated a debt that it had ignored for many years, during which CFR tried to contact Havana, without results.
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