U.S. told to provide data on exports to Cuba

By MARY JACOBY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 1, 2000

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Commerce to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request from the St. Petersburg Times seeking information about exports to Cuba.

In a ruling in favor of the Times, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara of Tampa wrote in an order Wednesday that Commerce's arguments were "entirely inconsistent" with the goals of full disclosure under FOIA, as the law is known.

The department last year denied an FOIA request from a Times reporter asking for the names of exporters and identification of the goods or services sold or donated to Cuba since 1996.

Exporters must obtain licenses from Commerce before shipping goods.

The Times filed a lawsuit in September 1999 seeking to compel release of the information, and the Tampa Tribune joined the action in March.

Since 1992, humanitarian exceptions to the Cuban embargo allow, under limited circumstances, sale or donation of medicine and donation of food to the communist island nation. More recently, the embargo has been under attack in Congress as ineffective in destabilizing the government of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Under pressure from farm-state lawmakers, Congress is expected to loosen the embargo this year by permitting sale of food to Cuba.

In denying the Times' request for information, Commerce argued the records were confidential because another statute, the Export Administration Act, specifically barred their release. The FOIA permits withholding of information when specifically prohibited by statute.

The export law expired in 1994, however.

Commerce then argued that a presidential executive order also prevented release of the information, but the judge agreed with the Times that an executive order does not carry the same force as a statute passed by Congress.

"This decision establishes that an executive order is not the equivalent of a statute for purposes of keeping records secret from the public. It's an important decision in that it allows the public to examine to whom, and for what, exports licenses to Cuba are being granted," said Alison Steele, a lawyer for the Times.

A spokeswoman for Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration said no one was available to comment Friday.

The judge's order does not mean that release of the information is imminent, however.

Commerce has the right to appeal, meaning a resolution of the case could take months or years.

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