Watch What You Post

Tom Warner did Castro when Castro wasn't cool.

The 77-year-old Seattle activist and World War II vet says he was radicalized "to the ways of imperialism" while sailing to Africa and the Middle East as a merchant marine after the war. By the '50s, with the McCarthy era raging, Warner was a Communist. He was a supporter of Fidel when the young revolutionary's greatest fame was as a minor league baseball pitcher, and he's been an advocate for the Cuban revolution ever since.

But after a half-century toiling on the fringes of the American political landscape, the elderly Warner is now in trouble with the Bush Administration for a most modern reason.

He posted something on the Internet.

Specifically, Warner received a letter, dated October 16, from David Harmon, the Chief of the Enforcement Division of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Treasury Department Agency charged with enforcing the Bush Administration's aggressive new policies as part of the nation's long-running embargo against Cuba. The letter -- a "Requirement to Furnish Information" that is the precursor to a Pre-Penalty Notice -- reads, in part:

"OFAC has received information that the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association (USCSCA) organized a trip (described by USCSCA as a "conference") to Cuba from February 17-24, 2002. Based upon the enclosed Internet article, it appears you were involved with the promotion and/or possible organization of this conference. OFAC did not issue a specific license to you to organize, arrange, promote, or otherwise facilitate the attendance of persons at the conference in Cuba...

Harmon's letter goes on to require Warner to provide the office with:

"1) Full explanation of each area of involvement that you may have had with the organization, facilitation, and promotion of this conference;

2) Contact information for all organizations that were involved in the organization of this conference, as well as a description of the type of involvement by such entities;

3) If you traveled to Cuba for any purpose related to this conference, you must indicate your dates of travel to Cuba and list your activities and financial expenditures within Cuba;

4) All records (memorandums, emails, expenditure reports, receipts, etc.) that are relevant to this conference;

5) Any additional information that may demonstrate how you were involved with this conference..."

The enclosed "Internet article," from Warner's SeattleCuba.org, is equally unambiguous. It is nothing more than a calendar listing for the annual USCSCA conference, held in Havana last February.

Warner was required to reply fully within 20 business days or face up to a $20,000 fine.

The various, continually amended laws governing the United States' 40-year embargo against Cuba -- fueled for three decades by the Cold War, and for the last 12 years by Florida's 27 Electoral College votes -- have been updated in recent years, most recently with the cynically titled Cuban Democracy Act. These laws ban travel by U.S. citizens to Cuba; the only people specifically banned by their country from traveling to to Cuba. But there are a host of exceptions: for conferences, for education purposes, humanitarian aid, sporting events, and more. Citizens can apply for licenses to travel to Cuba under the various exemptions. With and without the licenses, tens of thousands of Americans are thought to make the trip each year, mostly through Canada and Mexico. (While Americans remain frozen out by domestic politics, Canadian businesses are flourishing in Cuba, and the Caribbean island has become a favorite winter tourist destination of Canadians.)

The USCSCA conference was licensed, as was the attendance of most of its attendees. At least three are known to have gotten letters anyway, demanding information on their travels; they include Lisa Valanti, the Pittsburgh head of USCSCA, and Dwight Pelz, a Democratic King County (Seattle) County Councilman who attended. Both also faced fines for not replying.