ERNESTO CUESTA

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ P.O. Box 34434, Bethesda, Md. 20827 Home Tel. 301-564-3099 e-mail:

April 21, 2010

Ms. Wendy Masorti

Complaints Manager

American Philatelic Society

100 Match Factory Place

Bellefonte, PA 16823

Dear Ms. Masorti:

I am in receipt of the counter complaint filed by the Cuban Philatelic Society of America, Inc. (CPSA) against me and the 17 supporting Exhibits. In spite of the extensive nature of their presentation, I am going to respond in detail to all of them because I feel that they constitute a shameful and baseless attempt on their part to discredit my name and reputation that cannot go unanswered.

However, before my detailed response, I would like to make some general comments to put my specific response into the proper context and set some very important facts straight.I have numbered the paragraphs in Mr. Iglesias' letter of April 8 to you and I am attaching a copy of that letter with the numbered paragraphs so I can use it to refer to its contents throughout my response.

Exhibit #2, "Mr. Ernesto Cuesta's chronological list of unethical violations", was never provided to me by the CPSA until you sent it to me. Therefore, Mr. Iglesias' allegations in paragraph #7 of his letter that I had ample opportunities to argue my case is delusional since I could have hardly argued my case without been given the accusations against me! His statement in the same paragraph that I did not ask to have my case reviewed is also incorrect—I clearly demanded in my response to CPSA Board to have my expulsion retracted in no uncertain terms. Moreover, the paragraph is contradictory, he starts by saying that I did not ask to have my case reviewed and later states that I had ample opportunity to argue my case. Then he goes on to cite Article V, Section 2, of the CPSA Bylaws that state that
"a hearing by mail, instead of a hearing in person, may be granted…"—I was granted neither. Finally, let me point out that most of the accusations and allegations of unethical violations listed in Exhibit #2, pre-date the granting of the Cruz Planas Award to me for outstanding contributions over many years to the Society and Cuban philately. This award was dated December 10, 2008 and was presented to me at ROMPEX 2009 in Denver, Colorado, in May of 2009. The logic of their subsequent actions and statements defies all explanation.

It is evident from reading paragraph #10 of Mr. Iglesias' letter that he did not understandmy figure of speech "Keep it coming—you are only digging your own graves deeper". To imply that it carries "an implicit threat of violence" is ludicrous and shows that the real malicious statements are coming from him as evident in the rest of the paragraph. The only threat that I have made against the Society or the members of its Board has been to take them to court for the defamation of my name and character by their unwarranted, baseless, and illegal expulsion of me from the Society.

Finally, itappears that Mr. Iglesias did not consult the full CPSA Board of Directors on the content of his response letter or on the intention to file a counter complaint against me with the APS, both signed by him in the name of the CPSA. After receiving your letter with Mr. Iglesias' response and associated documentation, I contacted CPSA Board member Mr. Mark R. Tyx to inquire whether he had been consulted on these communiqués and received a negative response on both counts. I copy Mr. Tyx's response following:

Subject: Re: Response from the CPSA to my complaint with the APS

Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:26:54 -0700 (PDT)

From: Mark R Tyx <>

To:

Hello Ernesto,

In brief, here's my response to your 3 questions.

1. As a CPSA Board member, I was not consulted nor contacted about the decision

about the filing of an APS complaint against you.

2. There was no communication about the intention of the CPSA Board to file a cross-

complaint with the APS. This email is the first news I have that the Board has taken

this action.

3. No, the CPSA Board did not provide me with a copy of their collective response to the

the initial APS inquiry. Nor have I seen the original APS letter of inquiry about this

matter either.

In essence, I am a Board member in name only.

Regards,

Mark

Note however that item #33 of Mr. Iglesias' letter indicates that he sent copy to all of the Board members. Mr. Tyx was excluded because he was the only member of the Board that voted against my expulsion from the Society. I don't know whether Mr. Iglesias consulted the rest of the CPSA Board members on these important documents. If he didn't, he is in violation of the Society Bylaws.

If he did consult them, it supports my argument that the current Board is derelict of their duties in overseeing Society operations, as evidenced from the numerous errors in the counter complaint and supporting Exhibitsthat the CPSA submitted to the APS in response to my initial complaint.

To summarize, both my expulsion from the CPSA and now the counter complaint that the CPSA has filed against me with the APS, are simply attempts to discredit me, my name, and my reputation because of my vehement opposition and criticism of the way the current Society Officers and Board are conducting Society operations and their undemocratic and illegal distortion of current Society elections Bylaws in order to ensure their continued control of the Society by rigging planned elections in their favor and to the detriment of the Society at large.

In view of the evidence that I will detail in my comments on their submission of falsehoods to the APS,
I feel that the APS should sanction the CPSA with loss of their affiliation as a chapter of the APS and that, with the exclusion of Board member Mr. Mark R. Tyx who voted against my expulsion from the Society, the remaining current Officers and Board members, all of whom are probably APS members themselves, should be censured and reprimanded by the APS for their participation in the CPSA actions and false accusations against me.

I am prepared to provide full disclosure of all of my communications with Society Officers, Board of Directors, individual members, and membership at large in support of all of my statements upon request. Please do not hesitate to ask me to provide additional clarification of any statements on my part that are not clear or require additional corroboration.

Sincerely,

Ernesto Cuesta

Attachments:

  1. Copy of Mr. Iglesias' letter of 8 April 2010 to the APS with paragraphs numbered.
  2. Detailed Response to Each Paragraph in Mr. Iglesias' Letter of 8 April 2010 to the APS
  3. Copy of Exhibits 1 to 17 attached to Mr. Iglesias' letter of 8 April 2010 with my comments

Pay special attention to my comments responding to each of the following CPSA Exhibits, especially those highlighted in red:

  • Exhibit #2
  • Exhibit #5
  • Exhibit #7
  • Exhibit #8
  • Exhibit #10
  • Exhibit #12
  • Exhibit #15
  • Exhibit #17

  • Detailed Response to Each Paragraph in Mr. Iglesias' Letter of 8 April 2010 to the APS

1. I have already addressed the contradiction in the granting of the Cruz Planas Award to me in May of 2009 vis-à-vis the listing of alleged violations pre-dating it.

2. This is just a diversionary tactic to detract attention from the real issue which is the original complaint I filed against the CPSA with the APS.

3. Contrary to the statement that I have made "thinly veiled accusations", all of the statements in my messages have been quite explicit, direct to the point, and supported by facts. The entries in my "black list" are all supported by facts that I can prove and I would welcome anyone to initiate litigation against me regarding them. The lawyer that Mr. Iglesias copied on his letter of 8 April 2010 to the APS should have advised him on the frivolousness of any possible attempt to sue the CPSA based on my "black list".

4. The 17 November 2009 meeting of the Society at which the motion to expelme from the Society was presented and approved by the 15 members present was a local Miami meeting of the Society that was not representative of the Society at large. Additionally, no attempt was made after that meeting to consult the matter with the rest of the membership. Let me point out that the new Society I formed after my expulsion from the CPSA has already obtained 30 membersin little over a month and that most of those members were disaffected CPSA members. That is double the number of members that voted at the November 17 meeting of the Society in Miami.

5. The information posted in my FILACUBA Website criticizing the CPSA operations was clearly identified as being my opinions and was password protected so that only CPSA members could view it. It seems to me that the CPSA Board has a rather peculiar definition of the word "fraudulent" that is far from the intended definition of the word as used in Section 2 of Article V, of the Society's Bylaws. The listing of violations referenced in Exhibit 2, were not made available to me to challenge in advance of my expulsion or even thereafter—I learned about them in the form of Exhibit 2 of the counter complaint filed by the CPSA against me with the APS. See my detailed comments on each paragraph of Exhibit 2 following.

6. I received the letter of expulsion from the CPSA "out of the blue” without prior warning after being a member continuously since the foundation of the Society in 1971 and member of the Board of Directors from 1977 to 2006 when I was intentionally left out of the elections ballot for Directors of the Society due to my rising complaints about Society operations to the rest of the Board. No listing of violations was provided nor any recourse for a defense or an appeal. This letter is in clear violation of Section 2, Article V, of the Society Bylaws.

7. I have already responded to this paragraph in my cover letter.

8. I challenge the CPSA Board to list any specific "derogatory" comments, "unethical conduct", or "lack of proper decorum" in any of my communications to the Society or any of its members. This paragraph is full of ill-intentioned innuendos that are not backed by facts.

9. Privacy rights? Whose privacy rights? Why should I keep private the fact that I have filed a complaint against the Society with the APS? How about my more basic rights of freedom of speech and the right to defend myself against trumped up accusations?

10. I have already responded to this paragraph in my cover letter.

11. Correction, I do not own my own server—I rent space with an Internet service provider and have hosted the CPSA Website since 1998 at no charge to the CPSA. Again, if this "struggle has been in the making for several years", why did the Society present me with the Cruz Planas Award in May of 2009? The two facts are grossly contradictory.

12. Correct, as requested at the stated meeting, I removed the sections that were objectionable to the Society's Officers and Board from the CPSA Website and created a password protected section in my personal FILACUBA Website that was only accessible to CPSA members where I posted my criticisms of the Society. Again, Mr. Iglesias labels my criticisms as "ethical improprieties" in a continuing attempt to tarnish my reputation. I challenge Mr. Iglesias to specifically identify the "ethical improprieties" in my postings. On the contrary, all of my critiques were accompanied by specific recommendations for improvements in Society operations.

13. There is no "fantasy" about my recommendations for modifications to the Society Bylaws.They took great thought and effort to prepare and were presented to the Society Board for consideration in the mid to late 1990s.Those recommendations were completely disregarded at the time by the Society Board without careful consideration or discussion among the membership. I had kept them posted in the Society Website in the hope that at some point they would be revisited and serve to update the current archaic Society Bylaws dating to the formation of the Society as a local Miami club at a time when the Internet was not even a fantasy.There was also nothing "destructive" about my critiques of the Society financial reports or election process; on the contrary, both primarily consisted of recommendations for their improvement.Again, all of these exchanges of opinion had been taking place long before the Society Board of Directors voted to honor me with the Cruz Planas Award. It was only when I started to vehemently oppose the hijacking of the current elections that the Board decided to get rid of me and started concocting all sorts of fabricated allegations to justify their actions against me.

14. Addressed below in #19. Again, the paragraph is full of innuendos about unsubstantiated financial improprieties and ill intentions on my part in the administration of the Society's Website.

15. Already discussed in #13 above, but a couple of additional remarks are in order. Note that the paragraph states that President Alvarez apparently unilaterally decided that my proposed updates had no merit without further discussion or consultation with the CPSA membership. Furthermore, the proposed changes were not "cosmetic" as indicated—they were rather substantial if you carefully study them and compare their texts via the links provided in #13 above.

16. Another false statement. I did prepare the mentioned CPSA auction bulletin containing the announcement of my problems with the auction house of J.R. Subastas of Madrid, Spain, who sold items I consigned to them for over $3,000 and then refused to send me the proceeds (See CPSA Exhibit #7). However, I did not print or mail the auction bulletin myself. Instead I sent the draft to the Miami address of the Society where the ruling Board approved the contents and printed and mailed the bulletins. My announcement was approved for publication as a service to the membership to make them aware of the swindling of my auction proceeds by J.R. Subastas. If the Society Board saw no liability risk then, why has the current Society Board changed their tune?

17. Again, the ROMPEX 2009 Society meeting that this paragraph mentions was the same exact meeting where the Society presented me with the Cruz Planas Award. Their actions then are in direct contradiction with their statements in this paragraph. The statement of intention or even the action of starting a competing philatelic society is no grounds for dismissal from a Society to which I have belonged and served for the past 39 years. Furthermore, the new Society's name is not the same as the CPSA name as stated in this paragraph. The United States of America is not the same as the United States of Mexico, British Guiana is not the same as the French Guiana, and the International Cuban Philatelic Society is not the same as the Cuban Philatelic Society of America. Additionally, Mr. Iglesias should know by now that I have absolutely no control of where search engines direct their clients on any particular search. If Mr. Iglesias is aware of any misdirected links to my domain name, he should contact the source of the reference directly and ask them to change the linking. I am certainly not going to do it for him, nor am I going to direct anybody that reaches the old address of the CPSA to their new address—instead, I am providing them with a better option, I am directing them to the new International Cuban Philatelic Society.Upon returning from the 10 November 2009 meeting of the Society in Miami at which I was told in no uncertain terms to pick up and leave if I didn't like how the CPSA was being run, I decided to start a new Society and prepared the new Society Website and had it completed by December 29. However, I did not announce the formation of the new Society and did not solicit new members until March 8 shortly after receiving the second election ballot from the CPSA confirming that the current Board was indeed unflinching in their efforts to rig the Society elections for the second time in a row and after I had been expelled from the CPSA.

18. If my e-mail "barrage" had been untruthful, Mr. Iglesias would have not cancelled the August 2009 elections as he did. Moreover, Mr. Iglesias fails to mention that long before he mailed the August 2009 elections ballots I contacted him privately and urged him to modify the election process before proceeding with the elections. When he refused and continued with the elections process basically rigging the elections in favor of the predominantly Miami-based current slate of Officers and Board members, I contacted the membership directly to make them aware of what was going on. That's basically the root cause of my expulsion from the Society. By the way, I too have also kept all of my e-mails and can also make them available upon request.

19. Here is a link to my response to Mr. Iglesias' "Call for Action" (CPSA Exhibit #10) .You will note that many of the improvements called for in this document were based on many of my previously disregarded recommendations, proving that my constructive criticisms have been a motivator for substantial improvements in Society operations.

20. I found the tone and content of Mr. Iglesias' certified letter and attached "Call for Action" insulting to me as Webmaster, especially the insinuation that I had misappropriated Society funds by selling the Society's mailing list to dealers and pocketing the proceeds. I later realized that this was done intentionally to elicit such a reaction as decommissioning of the Website from me because unbeknownst to me at the time Mr. Iglesias had already hosted a replacement Website for the Society and had it fully operational as early as September 18, ten days earlier than the date of the certified letter sent to me (see "Your Opinions" posting #3 dated September 18 from Mr. Codina congratulating the new Society Webmaster-in-waiting on the looks of the new Website. In view of these facts, the statement that "my spiteful move hurt the Society" proves that Mr. Iglesias presentation is just an effort on his part to discredit me and support his actions against me.