GAO finds agencies struggle to enforce U.S. embargo with Cuba

GAO finds agencies struggle to enforce U.S. embargo with Cuba The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog, has found inconsistencies in the level of enforcement by federal agencies responsible for overseeing the country’s 48-year-old embargo with Cuba.
   In a report released this week, the GAO noted that Customs and Border Protection inspects all exports to Cuba at Port Everglades in Florida, and has increased “secondary” inspections of passengers arriving from Cuba at Miami International Airport from 3 percent to 20 percent since 2004.
   The GAO believes that enforcement of the Cuba embargo is taking away priority from CBP’s other necessary activities.
   “CBP data and interviews with agency officials suggest that the secondary inspections of Cuba arrivals at the airport may strain CBP’s ability to carry out its mission of keeping terrorists, criminals, and other inadmissible aliens from entering the country,” the GAO said. “Moreover, recent GAO reports have found weaknesses in CBP’s inspections capacity at key U.S. ports of entry nationwide.”
   The GAO report also pointed out that the Office of Foreign Assets Control since 2001 has “opened more investigations and imposed more penalties for embargo violations, such as buying Cuban cigars, than for violations of other sanctions, such as those on Iran.”
   Since the loosening of some U.S. trade activity with Cuba in 2001, U.S. exports to the Caribbean country have risen from about $6 million in 2000 to $350 million in 2006. In 2004, responding to new Bush administration policy, OFAC tightened rules on travel to Cuba.
   The GAO blamed the inconsistent enforcement of the Cuba embargo on several factors, including:
   ' Lack of cooperation from other countries that undercut the embargo’s effectiveness and hamper inspections and investigations.
   ' Divided U.S. public opinion regarding travel and cash transfer restrictions, which has contributed to “widespread, small-scale embargo violations.”
   ' Difficulty detecting fraudulent licenses and online money transfers via third countries.
   ' Complexity and changing rules, which have led to “unintended violations by some individuals and companies.”
   USA*Engage, a Washington-based coalition of businesses and trade groups seeking alternatives to unilateral U.S. foreign policy, called the GAO’s findings “disturbing.”
   “The fact that the U.S. Treasury Department (OFAC) is investigating more cases related to Cuba than all of the other sanctions programs it administers — as the report notes — is a serious misuse of taxpayer resources,” said USA*Engage Director Jake Colvin, in a statement. “Our government would seemingly prefer to investigate tourists coming back from Cuba than individuals engaged in weapons proliferation, terrorism and drug trafficking. That’s plain wrong.”
   The GAO recommended that CBP reassess whether its use of resources for intensive inspections of arrivals from Cuba at the Miami airport effectively balances embargo enforcement with protecting homeland security and OFAC assess its use of resources for investigating and penalizing Cuba embargo violations.
   For the complete report, access www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-80.