MADRID, Spain.- This Monday, January 23, the High Court of England and Wales, based in London, will begin the trial against the Cuban government and the Banco Nacional (BNC) for the claim of around 72 million euros filed by the investor firm CRF-I Ltd., based in Grand Cayman.
The lawsuit, filed on February 18, 2020, is just one part of the nearly $1.5 billion in claims that CRF I has acquired over the years on behalf of its investors.
The trial, led by Judge Sara Cockerill, in Britain’s High Court of Justice, is expected to take several days.
As the Spanish news agency EFE recalled, the amount required by CRF I derives from loan agreements between Cuba and two European banks (Crédit Lyonnais and L’Istituto Bancario Italiano) signed in the 1980s, where the Central Bank of Cuba acted as guarantor.
Explanation and lies of the Cuban regime
According to the Cuban government, CRF I Limited is not really a “legitimate” creditor of the country, nor was it ever. In addition, it says that legal norms and the formalities required to assign these debts, which come from credits from the two European banks mentioned, extended to the Cuban bank in 1982 and 1984, were violated.
The regime’s defense is based on maintaining that CRF I obtained these debts by committing illegalities.
The official discourse omits that Cuba stopped making interest payments in the mid-1980s. In those years, then-President Fidel Castro began to encourage poor countries to ignore their international debts and not pay. A policy that Cuba developed until, once Raúl Castro was in power, he tried to settle some foreign debts.
Activists to demonstrate against the regime during the trial
Since the start date of the trial became known, activists and opposition movements they summoned Cubans in London to a demonstration in opposition to the regime.
The call went viral on social media with the hashtags #cubastatefallido #ladeudaesdelpcc #corruptcommunists #SOSCuba #patriavidaylibertad.
Among the conveners are the Cuban presenter Alex Otaola; Yanel Raúl Nieves, from the opposition association Cuban Canadians for a Democratic Cuba; and the Madrid-based movement, Actions for Democracy.
In his call, Yanel Raúl Nieves assured: “We will be in London representing the people of Cuba for the trial of the dictatorship and the non-payment of the debt. Our people are not guilty, much less a guarantee of support for money they never spent.”
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