Sailors who organized Key West-Cuba races charged with 'trading with the enemy'

By Diana Marrero
Miami Bureau
Posted June 11 2004

Two residents of the Conch Republic repeatedly "traded with the enemy" when they arranged three sailboat races between Key West and Cuba, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

The indictment charges that Peter Goldsmith, a Key West Sailing Club member, and Michele Geslin, head of Geslin Sailmakers, violated the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba by organizing annual regattas without the federal government's permission.

By doing so Goldsmith and Geslin allegedly acted as illegal travel agents for Americans bent on having a good time in Cuban waters. The pair organized the regattas despite several warnings from Washington that they were violating the law, according to the indictment.

Though the races started and ended in Key West, the regatta included port calls and races in Havana and Varadero, Cuba's famed resort town.

As the events' organizers, Goldsmith and Geslin promoted the races through the Internet, collected entry fees and threw parties for the sailors.

Both are charged with trading with the enemy, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

They also face related conspiracy charges, punishable by up to five years.

"The embargo against the Cuban regime cannot be ignored or flouted," U.S. Attorney Marcos Daniel Jiménez said. He added that embargo regulations "are in place to protect the people of the United States, while hindering the endeavors of communist or oppressive regimes."

The two defendants were freed on $50,000 bail. They were given time to hire lawyers and return to court next week.

Boaters have been sailing to Cuba for regattas from Key West, St. Petersburg and other Florida cities and participating in fishing tournaments in Cuba for years.

But the Bush administration now is tightening enforcement of the embargo.

In February, President Bush expanded the government's authority to inspect U.S. vessels sailing to Cuba and instructed the Homeland Security Department to develop rules to prevent unauthorized vessels from entering Cuban waters.

Last month, Bush unveiled a new Cuba plan, including more aid to dissidents and tighter restrictions for Cuban-Americans on travel to the island.

This week, a Chicago man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for smuggling thousands of Cuban cigars into this country.

The federal government also has started enforcing a law that bans companies from making investments on confiscated property in Cuba.

It recently informed the Jamaica-based SuperClubs hotel chain that its top officers will be denied U.S. entry because of the company's operations at the 480-room Breezes Costa Verde, at a beach in Holguín.

These moves show Bush is finally "matching rhetoric with action," increasing pressure on the Cuban government for reforms, said John S. Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc., which monitors trade between the two countries.

But critics say the measures simply aim to garner favor with conservative Cuban-American voters in the battleground state of Florida.

"It's an election year, and there's no doubt they're ratcheting up the pressure and the visible enforcement actions," said Philip Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute.

Peters called the indictments in Key West "one more example of the government criminalizing what really is a harmless activity."

But the tightening of the embargo could backfire on Bush, weakening his support among more moderate Cuban-Americans, said anti-embargo activist Antonio Zamora.

"The results are going to show in the election," he said.

Staff Writer Ann W. O'Neill contributed to this report.

Diana Marrero can be reached at dmarrero@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5005.

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