By Humberto Fontova ——Bio and Archives--October 4, 2011
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“Offshore drilling poses an unacceptable level of risk to two of Florida's most important economic sectors.” They thundered. “Opening a new 1.5 million acre swath of the Eastern Gulf to oil drilling unnecessarily threatens marine life with pollution and puts Florida beaches at a much greater risk for spills. Given the environmental risks….this seems like an ill-considered move by the Bush administration. Opening more of the Gulf to drilling now makes little environmental, economic or political sense."The drilling rig on its way to a site 60 miles from Florida’s coast is Chinese-built, Italian–owned and Spanish-leased. Its purpose is to enrich Cuba’s Stalinist nomenklatura enabling them to better sponsor terrorism and torture people. If only The Obama-Environmental alliance team could muster the same contempt for this alliance as they do for tacky Texans. Texas-based Seahawk Drilling, for instance, among the biggest drillers in the Gulf, filed for bankruptcy last February. The company was battered and finally killed off by “the slowdown in the issuing of shallow-water (drilling) permits in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico following the Macondo well blowout,” read their press release. Louisiana’s Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu blamed, “the administration’s excruciatingly slow release of oil and gas permits…How many more rigs have to leave and how many more businesses have to close before it realizes the havoc the de facto moratorium is wrecking on the Gulf Coast?” The Energy Information Agency believes more than 59 billion barrels of recoverable oil reside in U.S. offshore waters. But given environmental legislation ,U.S. drillers are forbidden from going anywhere near this treasure trove. As it happens, the Spanish based Oil company Repsol, holds leases on U.S. territory. As mentioned, it also partners with the Castro regime. U.S. laws loosely termed the “U.S. Embargo of Cuba,” call for penalties against such accessories to theft. Meticulously and relentlessly “overlooked” by the MSM is why the so-called U.S. Embargo against Stalinist Cuba was originally enacted. To wit: In July 1960 Castro’s KGB-trained security forces stormed into 5911 U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba and stole them all at Soviet gunpoint – $2 billion were heisted from outraged U.S. businessmen and stockholders. Not that all Americans surrendered their legal and hard-earned property peacefully. Among some who resisted where Bobby Fuller whose family farm would contribute to a Soviet-style Kolkhoze and Howard Anderson whose profitable Jeep dealership was coveted by Castro’s henchmen. Both U.S. citizens were murdered by Castro and Che’s firing squads. Many of the Canadian, European and Chinese companies partnering with Castro occupy property and operate assets in Cuba stolen at Soviet gunpoint from U.S. businessmen and stockholders. For the most part these foreign corporations blow their noses on U.S. laws. But last week a letter drafted by the Chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, signed by a bi-partisan group of 34 House members, and addressed to Repsol’s President, hints at the testicular grip we actually hold on the Spanish corporation-- and could tighten on a whim:
“Dear Mr. Antonio Brufau Niubó, Repsol’s partnership with the Cuban regime could violate U.S. law, and may run afoul of pending legislation in the U.S. Congress….As to current law, Repsol may be in jeopardy of subjecting itself and its affiliates to criminal and civil liability in U.S. courts. Violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Enforcement Act can lead to serious ramifications for individuals or businesses that deal with the Cuban regime.” It’s a long–shot, but there’s a chance the Obama team will see fit to bring the hammer down on a State-Sponsor-of-Terrorism that came closest to nuking us, stole billions from U.S. citizens and most seriously threatens Florida’s beaches, rather than exclusively against domestic oil companies that fuel our economy and employ millions of our fellow citizens.
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Humberto Fontova is the author of four books including “Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him.” Visit hfontova.com.