US Coast Guard contradicts claim that it sought to enter Cuba to save
stranded aid barge
Trenton Daniel, Associated Press, On Tuesday April 12, 2011, 4:45 pm EDT
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that it
never sought to enter Cuban waters to recover a stranded barge,
contradicting an American company's account of an incident that resulted
in the loss of $2 million in building supplies bound for Haiti.
With the barge adrift about 15 miles (24 kilometers) off Cuba's northern
coast after the tugboat towing it broke down, the Coast Guard alerted
Cuban authorities, who said they would respond, said Chief Petty Officer
Russell Tippets, a spokesman based in Miami.
The housing company, Harbor Homes LLC, had said over the weekend that
Cuba rejected the Coast Guard's request to recover the drifting barge
and tug.
Tippets gave a different account.
The crew of the barge and tugboat were not in immediate danger, which
would have allowed the Coast Guard to enter Cuban territorial waters
without permission under international law, and the Cuban authorities
reported that they were capable of responding to the drifting vessels,
he said.
"We let them know there's a barge that needs assistance," Tippets said.
"They said, 'OK, we've got it.'"
What happened next was an expensive loss: The Cuban military allegedly
towed the two vessels toward shore, but a line broke and the barge ran
aground, spilling into the ocean equipment and materials that had been
meant to build 1,000 homes in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Harbor Homes, which was hauling the material to Haiti on behalf of the
aid group World Vision, disclosed the Nov. 30 incident publicly only
after its insurer, Lloyd's of London, denied a damage claim, citing the
age of the tugboat, according to the company.
The company said the tugboat broke down because fuel purchased in the
Bahamas was contaminated with water. But its announcement late Saturday
blamed the Cuban government for the loss on the grounds it wouldn't let
the Coast Guard tow the vessels to safety.
Cuban government officials have not responded to requests for comment.
Tippets said executives from Harbor Homes may have misinterpreted the
Coast Guard's role in the incident, but the company stood by its version.
"It looks like damage control to us," said Matt Williams, a spokesman
for Harbor Homes, based in Thomasville, Georgia.
Matthew Batson, vice president of Harbor Homes, and Col. Felix Vargas, a
retired U.S. Foreign Service officer who worked as a consultant for the
company, traveled to Santiago, Cuba, in December seeking unsuccessfully
to reclaim the barge and cargo. Batson said Cuban officials held them up
as they tried to leave the country but were released after 90 minutes.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Coast-Guard-company-dispute-apf-3180239392.html?x=0&.v=1
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