WASHINGTON (ABP) — Treasury Department officials have dropped the threat of a $34,000 fine against the Alliance of Baptists, according to a letter the group's attorney received May 17.
The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, threatened the fine for alleged violations of the federal government's economic embargo against Cuba. The department alleged that five Alliance churches that sent mission teams to Cuba under the organization's travel license had engaged in forbidden economic activities.
The letter said OFAC officials withdrew their recommendation to impose the fine. According to Stan Hastey, the Alliance's minister of ecumenical relations and mission partnerships, Treasury officials found that none of the five churches engaged in forbidden activity under the terms of the license.
However, the letter also contained a warning on future travel.
“[I]t is important for the Alliance to note that any transaction on the part of the Alliance, or on the part of persons who travel to Cuba under a travel license issued by OFAC, which involves a violation of the Cuba embargo administered by OFAC, may result in the imposition of criminal and/or civil penalties,” it said.
Hastey, in a memorandum to the organization's board, reminded them that the Alliance “no longer has a license to travel to Cuba, the result not only of the suspension of our previous license but [also] of a new OFAC policy denying such licenses to national and regional religious bodies generally.”
However, he added, “In my judgment, this result is about the best we could have hoped for.”
The Alliance, a fellowship of about 120 progressive Baptist congregations and a budget of $443,000, has a longstanding missions partnership with the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba, which pairs local Alliance congregations with Cuban churches.
Due to the U.S. economic and travel embargo on the island nation's communist regime, religious groups must use renewable travel permits to conduct religious activity in Cuba. The permits are granted through OFAC.
In 2005, OFAC officials first informed the Alliance of Baptists that its license had been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that a group from an Alliance church in Alabama had misused the license to visit Cuban tourist sites. Hastey said OFAC did not inform him any further about the investigation's progress. In the meantime, the original license expired.
Last July, OFAC sent the Alliance a letter saying it was recommending a $34,000 fine for violations of the terms of the travel license. The letter informed Hastey that the fine would be not only for the alleged violations by the team from the Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham but also for alleged violations by four other Alliance churches that traveled to Cuba under the license between 2003 and 2005. Those congregations are the First Baptist churches of Washington, D.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Greenville, S.C.; and the Glendale Baptist Church in Nashville.
Alliance officials decided to challenge the fine and enlisted the help of an experienced Washington litigator, Kenneth Lazarus. “We owe a large debt of gratitude to Mr. Lazarus, a seasoned attorney who clearly knew what he was doing,” Hastey told his board members, noting that the lawyer's services cost the group only “$2,658.86, plus a nice lunch I told him the Alliance would provide to celebrate!”
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Read more:
Alliance challenges $34,000 fine for alleged Cuba violations (9/8/2006)
Bush's latest Cuba plans prompt outcry from NCC, Alliance of Baptists (7/13/2006)
Alliance's Cuba travel license pulled pending investigation (7/7/2005)