Family of Cuban chess player Guillermo García recovers $10,000 prize retained in the U.S.

January 16, 2023

The long and anguishing battle by the family of Grand Master Guillermo García (1953-1990) to recover the amount of a prize retained from the eminent Cuban chess player in the United States for 34 years finally culminated this week with the triumph of his sole heir.

After a thorny legal dispute and the recent resumption of Western Union operations for sending remittances to Cuba, Antonio García Labrada, son of the chess player, will have access to an inheritance of $10,413.84 that remained frozen in a New York bank due to the blockade, federal regulations for inheritance transactions, and financial barriers imposed by the Donald Trump administration since November 2020.

With the approval of the Treasury Department and the activation of the pilot program launched this week by Western Union, a tense match ends for the García Labrada family in recovering the amount awarded to the chess player as a prize for his performance at the New York Open Tournament in 1988, when he placed second, behind Ukrainian GM Vasili Ivanchuk.

But blockade restrictions prevented him from collecting it due to residing in Cuba, included on the list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982, and García had to return to Havana with the runner-up certificate and empty-handed, awaiting a modification of the rules on the political board.

The prize for Guillermito—as the player was popularly known—was then $10,000, but the total accumulated in the account over time amounted to $16,468.89. From that amount, the lawyers involved in the case, José I. Valdés in Miami and William T. Shepard in New York, collected about $6,000 in legal fees and administration of the inheritance, and the remaining money belongs to García Labrada, 38 years old and a resident of Havana.

"It has been a true odyssey to reach the end of this case," said lawyer José I. Valdés, who was responsible for representing García Labrada in the United States for 10 years. "No inheritance claim process for residents of Cuba has been as prolonged and demanding as this one."

Valdés belongs to a select group of U.S. lawyers who hold special licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department to represent the rights of Cuban citizens with inheritances in the United States.

The granting and collection of inheritances to Cuban residents on the island was authorized by the George W. Bush administration in 2003. Since then, OFAC regulated that Cuban heirs can receive through remittances the money awarded by U.S. courts and held in the Blocked Cuban Accounts (CBA), also known as "frozen accounts."

It is estimated that more than $500 million have been sent to heirs in Cuba using this legal mechanism. OFAC has not revealed an exact figure of the transactions completed in this modality since this option opened two decades ago.

Thus, in 2013, González Labrada began processing the frozen account in his father's name at Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, in the Manhattan branch.

Why was the chess player's account placed there? Historian and journalist Miguel Ángel Sánchez, author of the biography Capablanca, legend and reality (2015), recalls the reasons that Cuban-American lawyer Eddy López had to recommend this step to Guillermito after his successful performance in the New York tournament.

Blockade restrictions prevented García from staying in the United States or moving to a third country, but that was not in the plans of the chess player from Villa Clara. The prohibition shocked the chess world and the prestigious magazine New in Chess even called it a "truly abominable" case of political interference in chess matters.

"López was a close friend of the tournament director, José Cucci, and upon learning that Guillermito couldn't collect the money, they both decided that the money would be held at Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR), of which López was an associate lawyer," Sánchez recounted.

According to the historian, lawyer López considered putting the money in a non-aggressive investment fund, but finally decided on a regular interest-bearing account to run less risk given what it meant for the chess player.

"And I think it was quite clear in the decision," Sánchez affirmed.

But the procedures with BPPR became more complicated than expected.

The frozen account of the deceased had to be transferred to a similar one created in the name of the claimant at a U.S. bank that conducted transactions with blocked accounts, from which options like Professional Bank and Coconut Grove Bank, both in Miami, could be selected, but BPPR demanded additional requirements.

In June 2014, a Cuban court issued the declaration of heirs to Guillermo García González's assets, designating García Labrada as the sole beneficiary. The chess player's widow, Ada María Labrada, also a resident of Havana with her son, had renounced her inheritance rights.

Following that judicial decision, OFAC authorized in November 2015 the creation of the blocked account for account holder Antonio García Labrada, but BPPR raised the bar of its demands and determined that the case had to be transferred to the New York Court of Probate and Guardianship to declare the award final and be able to issue the payable check.

The matter became even more complicated, since a lawyer licensed in the state of New York who was willing to charge low fees had to be arranged so as not to affect the amount destined for García Labrada.

"It was truly providential to find Shepard with the willingness to do it, and his generosity must be acknowledged for this process to move forward," said Valdés, who also reduced the cost of his fees.

The legal entanglement did not stop there. The New York court requested certified statements that Valdés represented the García Labrada family in the United States and was the administrator of the inheritance, as well as a letter from the funeral home that handled the chess player's funeral, confirming that no money was owed for that completed service.

After completing the certification procedures at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, the original documents arrived at the New York court.

The litigation was able to be resolved in the midst of COVID-19, but the certification by the New York court to authorize the transfer of the frozen account was delayed due to the closure of government institutions as a result of the pandemic.

When everything was ready in December 2020, the obstacle to sending the money to its intended recipient was greater. Since November 26 of that year, President Trump had sanctioned the state-owned FINCIMEX for its dependence on Cuban military authorities, which resulted in the cancellation of Western Union operations in Cuba.

More than 300 cases were unable to collect their inheritances in Cuba following the suspension ordered by Trump of operations at more than 400 Western Union branches scattered throughout the country.

"Really, Guillermito's family had it terrible… There were so many obstacles that they don't seem believable," Valdés commented.

OFAC's authorization for sending inheritances was granted to Western Union and is not governed by the general family remittance formulation, but rather responds to a separate category and can only be sent by assigned lawyers.

That is why the easing stipulated by the Joe Biden administration to process family remittances to Cuba did not cover inheritance transfers.

Although regulations do not prohibit sending inheritances through entities such as VaCuba and Cubamax, authorized this year by OFAC to process remittances via the state-owned Orbit, lawyers prefer not to take risks with companies that do not have federal government approval and do not have the backing of U.S. banking institutions.

Furthermore, VaCuba and Cubamax operations do not handle large volumes per shipment, which complicates inheritance transactions. Initially, only $300 per quarter could be remitted, but since 2009 the Barack Obama administration eliminated quantity limits, at the rate of $5,000 per transaction, but with the possibility of billing more than one daily.

The restrictions on remittance shipments to Cuba applied by the Trump government since 2019 did not affect inheritance processing.

Since last November, when OFAC granted a license to VaCuba to operate remittances to the island, inheritance lawyers had been trying to negotiate a differentiated fee for their shipments, considering that the volume of operations merited a lower levy. But the process became stalled waiting for a decision by Cuba's Ministry of Justice.

In that waiting period, Western Union reopened its operations and finally untangled the intricate mess of the inheritance of the family of the renowned chess player, who died in a car accident in the prime of his career.

Guillermito was recognized as the most talented Cuban player after the genius José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942), accumulating 2,535 ELO points.

At the moment of his tragic death, the idol of Santa Clara had forged an impressive chain of international victories for Cuban chess. He was three-time national champion, won two Capablanca in Memoriam tournaments, represented Cuba in seven Chess Olympiads, and completed his Grand Master title in 1976, at just 22 years old.