Vol. 79/No. 37      October 19, 2015

“The agent who contacted us said the decision was based on IFCO’s aid to the Cuban people, claiming it violates the U.S. embargo of Cuba and the Trading With the Enemy Act,” attorney Martin Stolar of IFCO’s legal team told the Militant. The organization’s council in Washington recently received verbal notice from the IRS that a decision is imminent rejecting the group’s appeals and revoking its status as a nonprofit organization.

IFCO was founded in 1966. Since 1992 it has been best known for its yearly “Friendshipment caravans” to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Cuba.

The IRS initiated its probe in 2011 based on IFCO’s backing of a project called Viva Palestina. Tax officials claimed the group, which organizes convoys to bring food and medical supplies to people in the Gaza Strip, has ties to Hamas and terrorism. Viva Palestina is not on any government “terrorist” list, and is recognized as a legitimate charity by the official Charity Commission in the United Kingdom, where it is based.

In 2013, the IRS issued a report recommending that IFCO be stripped of its tax-exempt status retroactive to 2009, potentially making it liable for years of back taxes. The report cited not only IFCO’s backing of Viva Palestina and the Cuba caravans, but also its support for U.S. students attending the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba and for fights against police frame-ups and incarceration.

In addition to asking people to protest this attack on political rights, IFCO has filed a request that the IRS decision be delayed until a ruling is made on whether the agency even has the power to determine if IFCO violated any laws. “The government agency that is responsible, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, has never taken any action or imposed any penalties against IFCO” in the more than 20 years the caravans have operated, Stolar said.

IRS’ impending decision is particularly outrageous said IFCO Executive Director Gail Walker “given the recent decisions by the U.S. and Cuban governments to re-establish diplomatic relations, the decision by Washington to remove Cuba from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the visit by Pope Francis to both Cuba and the U.S. and his call for the nations of the world to work together, and President Obama’s announcement at the United Nations that he intends to propose lifting the embargo.”

Protests can be sent to:

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Large Business and International Division, Attn: SE:LB, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20224. Phone: (202) 515-4400. Fax: (202) 622-5756. Email: irs.commissioner@irs.gov.

Secretary of Treasury Jacob J. Lew, Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20220. Phone: (202) 622-2000. Fax: (202) 622-6415.

 
 
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Cuban delegation, including Cuban 5, speaks in Ecuador
 
 
 
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