「台灣古巴後援會籌備中」,第四期通訊,2007年5月15日。
Michael Moore 赴古巴,美國政府調查Moore 是否違反禁令
美聯社 2007-5-10說,美國財政部的「海外資產控制署」(Office of Foreign Assets
Control)在5 月2 日發函知名紀錄片製作人Moore ,調查他是否違反美國禁止美國人至古巴旅行的禁令。官員表示, Moore在 2006
年10月 12
日以全職記者身份,申請赴古,但官方記錄並未顯示已經核可,Moore 卻已經在 2007 年2月陪同 10 位紐約病人前往哈瓦納就醫。官員要求
Moore在 20天內,詳細說明他的行程起迄地點與隨同人員名單。若 Moore違反禁令屬實,罰金不明,但 2003年有位紐約人支付政府 7萬 5千美元,解決他違反禁令之指控的訴訟。
以下為詳細新聞資料。
Michael Moore faces U.S. probe of Cuba trip
DAVID GERMAIN, Associated Press
10 May 2007
LOS ANGELES ?Academy Award-winning filmmaker
Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S.Treasury Department for taking
ailing Sept. 11, 2001 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his health-care
documentary Sicko.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film
by Moore, a fierce critic of President George W. Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have
fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated
blockbuster documentary.
Sicko promises to take the U.S.
health-care industry to task the way Moore
confronted Americans' passion for guns in Bowling for Columbine and skewered
Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in
Fahrenheit 9/11.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 it is conducting a civil
investigation for possible violations of the U.S.
trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba.
his office has no record that a specific licence was issued authorizing you to
engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba,?Dale
Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in
the letter to Moore.
In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers
from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan
for treatment in Cuba,
said a person working with the filmmaker on the release of Sicko. The person
requested anonymity because Moore's
lawyers had not yet determined how to respond.
Moore, who scolded Bush over the Iraq war during the 2003 Oscar
telecast, received the letter Monday, the person said. Sicko premieres May 19
at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theatres June 29.
Moore declined
comment, said spokeswoman Lisa Cohen.
After receiving the letter, Moore
arranged to place a copy of the film in a afe house?outside the country to
protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release
of the film.
Treasury officials declined to answer questions about the letter.
e don't comment on enforcement actions,?said department spokeswoman Molly
Millerwise.
The letter noted Moore
applied Oct. 12, 2006, for permission to go to Cuba ut no determination had been
made by OFAC.?br>
Moore sought
permission to travel there under a provision for full-time journalists, the
letter said.
The letter said Moore was given 20 business days
to provide OFAC with such information as the date of travel and point of
departure; the reason for the Cuba
trip and his itinerary and the names and addresses of those who accompanied
him, along with their reasons for going.
Potential penalties for violating the embargo were not indicated. In 2003, the
New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 (U.S.)
to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo.
No specifics were released about that case.
Sicko is Moore's
followup to 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11, a $100-million hit criticizing the Bush
administration over Sept. 11. Moore's
Bowling for Columbine won the 2002 Oscar for best documentary.
A dissection of the U.S.
health-care system, Sicko was inspired by a segment on Moore's TV show The Awful Truth, in which he
staged a mock funeral outside a health-maintenance organization that had declined
a pancreas transplant for a diabetic man. The HMO later relented.
At last September's Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed
footage shot for Sicko, presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares.
One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a
head-on collision because it was not preapproved.
The timing of the investigation is reminiscent of the firestorm that preceded
the Cannes
debut of Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the festival's top prize in 2004. Walt
Disney Co. refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its
political content, prompting Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein to release
Fahrenheit 9/11 on their own.
The Weinsteins later left Miramax to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing
Sicko. They declined comment on the Treasury investigation, said company
spokeswoman Sarah Levinson Rothman.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070510.wmoorecuba0510/BNStory/Entertainment/home
新聞來源: