DOCSLIB.ORG

Denmark Phase 3

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Denmark Phase 3 PHASE 3 REPORT ON IMPLEMENTING THE OECD ANTI-BRIBERY CONVENTION IN DENMARK MARCH 2013 This Phase 3 Report on Denmark by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Denmark’s implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the 2009 Recommendation of the Council for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. It was adopted by the Working Group on 15 March 2013. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 5 A. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 7 1. The On-site Visit .................................................................................................................................. 7 2. Summary of the Monitoring Steps Leading to Phase 3 ........................................................................ 7 3. Outline of the Report ............................................................................................................................ 7 4. Economic Background.......................................................................................................................... 8 5. Overseas Territories .............................................................................................................................. 8 6. Cases Involving the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials...................................................................... 8 (a) Concluded Cases Resulting in Sanctions ..................................................................................... 9 (b) Terminated Cases without Sanctions or Prosecutions ................................................................. 9 (c) Ongoing Foreign Bribery Cases ................................................................................................ 11 (d) Concluded Oil-for-Food Cases .................................................................................................. 11 B. IMPLEMENTATION AND APPLICATION BY DENMARK OF THE CONVENTION AND THE 2009 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 12 1. Foreign Bribery Offence ..................................................................................................................... 12 (a) Defence of Small Facilitation Payments.................................................................................... 13 (b) Definition of a Foreign Public Official ...................................................................................... 15 (c) Application of the Convention in Greenland and the Faroe Islands .......................................... 16 2. Responsibility of Legal Persons ......................................................................................................... 17 3. Sanctions for Foreign Bribery and Related Offences ......................................................................... 19 (a) Maximum Sanctions Available for Foreign Bribery ................................................................. 19 (b) Sanctions Imposed in Practice ................................................................................................... 20 (c) Sanctions for False Accounting ................................................................................................. 20 4. Confiscation of the Bribe and the Proceeds of Bribery ...................................................................... 21 5. Investigation and Prosecution of the Foreign Bribery Offence .......................................................... 22 (a) Enforcement Agencies and Co-ordination................................................................................. 22 (b) Prosecutorial Discretion and the Prosecution of Related Natural Persons ................................ 23 (c) Absence of Corporate Prosecutions ........................................................................................... 25 (d) Out-of-Court Settlements .......................................................................................................... 25 (e) Additional Issues Concerning Specific Foreign Bribery Enforcement Actions ........................ 27 (f) Statute of Limitations ................................................................................................................ 30 (g) Jurisdiction to Prosecute ............................................................................................................ 30 (h) Priority, Resources and Expertise .............................................................................................. 32 (i) Investigative Techniques ........................................................................................................... 33 (j) Article 5 of the Convention ....................................................................................................... 34 6. Money Laundering.............................................................................................................................. 34 (a) The Money Laundering Offence ............................................................................................... 34 (b) Money Laundering Reporting ................................................................................................... 35 (c) Authorities and Expertise to Combat Money Laundering ......................................................... 35 (d) Anti-Money Laundering in Greenland and the Faroe Islands ................................................... 36 7. Accounting Requirements, External Audit, and Corporate Compliance and Ethics Programmes ..... 37 (a) Accounting Standards ................................................................................................................ 37 (b) Detection of Foreign Bribery by External Auditors .................................................................. 37 (c) Reporting of Foreign Bribery by External Auditors .................................................................. 37 (d) Corporate Compliance, Internal Controls and Ethics ................................................................ 39 3 8. Tax Measures for Combating Bribery ................................................................................................ 40 (a) Non-Tax Deductibility of Bribes ............................................................................................... 40 (b) Detection and Awareness-Raising ............................................................................................. 40 (c) Reporting and Sharing of Information by SKAT of Foreign Bribery ....................................... 41 9. International Co-operation .................................................................................................................. 42 (a) Mutual Legal Assistance ........................................................................................................... 42 (b) Extradition ................................................................................................................................. 43 10. Public Awareness and the Reporting of Foreign Bribery ............................................................... 43 (a) Awareness of the Convention and the Offence of Foreign Bribery .......................................... 43 (b) Reporting Suspected Acts of Foreign Bribery ........................................................................... 44 (c) Whistleblowing and Whistleblower Protection ......................................................................... 46 11. Public Advantages ........................................................................................................................... 47 (a) Official Development Assistance .............................................................................................. 47 (b) Prevention and Detection within the Danish International Investment Funds .......................... 48 (c) Public Procurement ................................................................................................................... 48 (d) Officially Supported Export Credits .......................................................................................... 49 C. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ISSUES FOR FOLLOW-UP ........................................................... 50 1. Recommendations of the Working Group .......................................................................................... 51 2. Follow-up by the Working Group ...................................................................................................... 54 ANNEX 1 PREVIOUS WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS TO DENMARK AND WORKING GROUP ASSESSMENT OF THEIR IMPLEMENTATION ................................................... 55 ANNEX 2 PARTICIPANTS AT THE ON-SITE VISIT ........................................................................ 58 ANNEX 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .............................................................. 60 ANNEX 4 EXCERPTS OF
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reviving the Federal Crime of Gratuities
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Law Faculty Scholarly Articles Law Faculty Publications 2013 Reviving the Federal Crime of Gratuities Sarah N. Welling University of Kentucky College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Legislation Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Sarah Welling, Reviving the Federal Crime of Gratuities, 55 Ariz. L. Rev. 417 (2013). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Faculty Publications at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reviving the Federal Crime of Gratuities Notes/Citation Information Arizona Law Review, Vol. 55, No. 2 (2013), pp. 417-464 This article is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/275 REVIVING THE FEDERAL CRIME OF GRATUITIES Sarah N. Welling* The federal crime of gratuities prohibits people from giving gifts to federal public officials if the gift is tied to an official act. Both the donor and the donee are liable. The gratuities crime is dysfunctional in two main ways. It is overinclusive in that it covers conduct indistinguishable from bribery. It is underinclusive in that it does not cover conduct that is clearly dangerous: gifts to public officials because of their positions that are not tied to a particular official act. This Article argues that Congress should extend the crime of gratuities to cover gifts because of an official’s position rather than leaving the crime to cover only gifts because of particular official acts.
    [Show full text]
  • Redundancies Companion Chart
    This resource is provided as companion content to our podcast Global Solutions: Episode 7 and the information is current as of August 5, 2020. The global situation with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic is developing very rapidly. Employers may want to monitor applicable public health authority guidance and Ogletree Deakins’ Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center for the latest developments. Redundancies in the Age of COVID-19—Quick Reference Country Minimum Statutory Special issuesii Different for Employee Advance COVID-19- Risk Level (*, notice? termination Collective consultation? government related **, ***) payments?i dismissals?iii notice? restrictions? Argentina 15 days – Severance: 1 Union, Yes Yes Yes (collective Generally *** 2 months month per COVID-19 (collective) – when the prohibited / year of prohibitions business crisis double service; 1 preventive severance month when procedure no notice applies). provided. Australia 1-5 weeks (or Redundancy Modern Yes Yes Yes If receiving * pay in lieu of pay: 4-12 award, (collective) subsidy notice) weeks employment contract, Long-service enterprise leave / annual agreement leave Belgium 1-18 weeks Dismissal Union, works Yes Yes Yes None ** bonus; council (collective) (collective) “redundancy allowance” 1 This resource is provided as companion content to our podcast Global Solutions: Episode 7 and the information is current as of August 5, 2020. The global situation with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic is developing very rapidly. Employers may want to monitor applicable public health authority
    [Show full text]
  • Albania Growing out of Poverty
    ReportNo. 15698-ALB Albania Growing Out of Poverty May 30, 1997 Human ResourcesOperations Division Country Department II Europe and Central Asia Region Documentof the World Bank I. I I 1. II I I .1 I lI II , I 'I I1' ro 1, 1 II 11 I I I|1,,, . ,I,,,II I .I , I ,,1 I , IJ ' I Currency Unit: Albania - Lek Average Exchange Rates (Lek per US$1): 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 8.0 14.4 75.0 102.1 94.7 93.3 104.5 Fiscal Year: January 1 - December 31 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations: ADF Albanian Development Fund CMEA Council For Mutual Economic Assistance GDP Gross Domestic Product IMR Infant Mortality Rate MOLSP Ministry of Labor and Social Policy PIP Public Investment Program INSTAT Albanian Institute for Statistics Acknowledgements This report was managed and written by Christine Allison (Senior Economist). The team that prepared the materials for the report included Robert Christiansen, Yvonne Ying and Sasoun Tsirounian (rural poverty), Janis Bernstein, Helen Garcia and Bulent Ozbilgin (urban poverty), Helena Tang (macroeconomic background), Melitta Jakab (demographics and health), Helen Shariari (gender issues), and Harold Alderman (food security and social assistance). Background studies were prepared by Rachel Wheeler (land issues), Ahmet Mancellari (labor market), Nora Dudwick (qualitative survey), Dennis Herschbach (historical overview) and UNICEF (education). Peter Szivos provided techncial assistance to INSTAT. A number of people provided invaluable assistance in Albania: Peter Schumanin and Sokol Kondi (UNDP), Gianfranco Rotigliano and Bertrand Bainvel (UNICEF). Mimoza and Nesti Dhamo (urban surveys) and the staff of the resident mission.
    [Show full text]
  • Employment & Labour
    Employment & Labour Law 2019 Seventh Edition Contributing Editor: Charles Wynn-Evans Global Legal Insights Employment & Labour Law 2019, Seventh Edition Contributing Editor: Charles Wynn-Evans Published by Global Legal Group GLOBAL LEGAL INSIGHTS – EMPLOYMENT & LABOUR LAW 2019, SEVENTH EDITION Contributing Editor Charles Wynn-Evans, Dechert LLP Editor Sam Friend Senior Editors Caroline Collingwood & Rachel Williams Group Consulting Editor Alan Falach Publisher Rory Smith We are extremely grateful for all contributions to this edition. Special thanks are reserved for Charles Wynn-Evans for all of his assistance. Published by Global Legal Group Ltd. 59 Tanner Street, London SE1 3PL, United Kingdom Tel: +44 207 367 0720 / URL: www.glgroup.co.uk Copyright © 2018 Global Legal Group Ltd. All rights reserved No photocopying ISBN 978-1-912509-49-2 ISSN 2050-2117 This publication is for general information purposes only. It does not purport to provide comprehensive full legal or other advice. Global Legal Group Ltd. and the contributors accept no responsibility for losses that may arise from reliance upon information contained in this publication. This publication is intended to give an indication of legal issues upon which you may need advice. Full legal advice should be taken from a qualified professional when dealing with specific situations. The information contained herein is accurate as of the date of publication. Printed and bound by TJ International, Trecerus Industrial Estate, Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8RW December 2018 CONTENTS Preface
    [Show full text]
  • Greco Eval III Rep 2008 9E FINAL Denmark ETS173 PUBLIC
    DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND LEGAL AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE OF MONITORING Strasbourg, 2 July 2009 Public Greco Eval III Rep (2008) 9E Theme I Third Evaluation Round Evaluation Report on Denmark on Incriminations (ETS 173 and 191, GPC 2) (Theme I) Adopted by GRECO at its 43 rd Plenary Meeting (Strasbourg, 29 June – 2 July 2009) Secrétariat du GRECO GRECO Secretariat www.coe.int/greco Conseil de l’Europe Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex +33 3 88 41 20 00 Fax +33 3 88 41 39 55 I. INTRODUCTION 1. Denmark joined GRECO in 2000. GRECO adopted the First Round Evaluation Report (Greco Eval I Rep (2002) 6E Final) in respect of Denmark at its 10 th Plenary Meeting (8-12 July 2002) and the Second Round Evaluation Report (Greco Eval II Rep (2004) 6E) at its 22 nd Plenary Meeting (14-18 March 2005). The afore-mentioned Evaluation Reports, as well as their corresponding Compliance Reports, are available on GRECO’s homepage (http://www.coe.int/greco ). 2. GRECO’s current Third Evaluation Round (launched on 1 January 2007) deals with the following themes: - Theme I – Incriminations: Articles 1a and 1b, 2-12, 15-17, 19 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173), Articles 1-6 of its Additional Protocol (ETS 191) and Guiding Principle 2 (criminalisation of corruption). - Theme II – Transparency of Party Funding: Articles 8, 11, 12, 13b, 14 and 16 of Recommendation Rec(2003)4 on Common Rules against Corruption in the Funding of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns, and - more generally - Guiding Principle 15 (financing of political parties and election campaigns).
    [Show full text]
  • The Tip Credit Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act
    Order Code RL33348 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web The Tip Credit Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act March 24, 2006 William G. Whittaker Specialist in Labor Economics Domestic Social Policy Division Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress The Tip Credit Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act Summary The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the primary federal statute dealing with wages, hours, and conditions of employment. One aspect of wage policy is the question of tip income. Closely related to the issue of tip income is the ability of employers, under the FLSA, to employ certain youth workers at sub-minimum wages. During the 1960s, the FLSA was expanded to include certain areas of work that had been omitted from the 1938 statute. Among them were workers engaged in the service and retail trades. Since many such workers received tips in the normal course of their work (some of them, a substantial amount of tips), the question arose as to how they were to be treated in the context of a federal minimum wage structure. There had been some discussion of the tip question prior to 1938 but, since the initial enactment really did not cover many workers in tipped occupations, it was not made a part of the act. In the 1960s, however, the issue became somewhat more controversial. Did tips flow, almost necessarily, from the ambience of the restaurant or club — the nature of a hotel or inn? If so, were tips really the product of employer contributions — and should they belong to the employer? If they should not actually become the property of the employer, should an offset be made against the minimum wage? Workers were adamant that employment should bring a wage — and also that the wage was to be paid by the employer: a steady wage and a consistent wage, not just a gratuity voluntarily given by a third party.
    [Show full text]
  • Executive Summary
    United Nations CAC/COSP/IRG/I/2/1/Add.5 Conference of the States Parties Distr.: General 23 August 2012 to the United Nations Convention against Corruption Original: English Implementation Review Group Resumed third session Vienna, 14-16 November 2012 Agenda item 2 Review of implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption Executive summary Note by the Secretariat Addendum Contents Page II. Executive summary ............................................................. 2 Estonia ....................................................................... 2 V.12-55516 (E) 240812 270812 *1255516* CAC/COSP/IRG/I/2/1/Add.5 II. Executive summary Estonia 1. Legal system: overview of the anti-corruption legal and institutional framework Estonia acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption on 20 January 2010, and deposited its instrument of accession with the Secretary-General on 12 April 2010. According to article 123 of the Constitution, the Convention has become an integral part of domestic law, with overriding legal effect over any other contrary provision of domestic law. The Estonian legal system is based on the German legal tradition. The anti-corruption legal framework encompasses the Constitution, the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Anti-Corruption Act (1999), and the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act (2007). At the time of the review, a draft anti-corruption law was being considered. This draft law was adopted on 6 June 2012 and will enter into force in 2013. There is no specialized anti-corruption agency in Estonia. The Ministry of Justice coordinates anti-corruption policy. Law enforcement authorities include the judiciary, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Police and Border Guard, the Security Police Force and the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit of the Police and Border Guard).
    [Show full text]
  • Supreme Court of the United States ______
    No. 12-1462 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States __________________________ KEVIN A. RING, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent. __________________________ On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit __________________________ PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI __________________________ TIMOTHY P. O’TOOLE Counsel of Record ANDREW T. WISE MILLER & CHEVALIER CHARTERED 655 15th St. NW, Suite 900 Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 626-5800 E-mail: [email protected] DAVID A. MORAN 701 South State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (734) 615-5419 E-mail: [email protected] i QUESTIONS PRESENTED In this criminal prosecution of a lobbyist based on a theory of “excessive hospitality,” two important ques- tions are presented: (1) Whether a defendant can be convicted of the of- fense of honest-services-fraud-by-bribery as defined in this Court’s decision in United States v. Skilling, 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010), in the absence of a quid pro quo bribery agreement. (2) Whether the First Amendment permits jurors to consider evidence of a lobbyist’s legal campaign contributions, permissibly made to express appre- ciation toward and provide election assistance to political officials, as probative of whether the lobby- ist engaged in corruption by putting other things of value to similar use. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page QUESTION PRESENTED .........................................i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ......................................v OPINIONS BELOW...................................................1 STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION ..........................1 CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS INVOLVED........................................2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE...................................2 REASONS FOR GRANTING THE PETITION........8 I. THE COURT SHOULD GRANT CERTI- ORARI TO CONSIDER WHETHER AN HONEST SERVICES FRAUD CONVIC- TION CAN STAND WITHOUT PROOF OF A QUID PRO QUO BRIBERY AGREEMENT ................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Estonia: Phase 1
    DIRECTORATE FOR FINANCIAL AND ENTERPRISE AFFAIRS ESTONIA: PHASE 1 REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION AND 1997 REVISED RECOMMENDATION This report was approved and adopted by the Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions on 15 February 2006. 1 ESTONIA REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION AND 1997 REVISED RECOMMENDATION A. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION Formal Issues 1. Estonia is the second country, after Slovenia,1 to accede to the 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the “Convention”)2 in compliance with Article 13 of the Convention, which regulates accession.3 Estonia started to be a full participant in the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions (the Working Group) in June 2004, and deposited its instrument of accession on 23 November 2004. The Convention entered into force in Estonia on 22 January 2005. The Convention and the Estonian legal system 2. Estonia’s legal system, including provisions on the fight against transnational bribery, has been characterised by rapid changes in recent years. Today, the criminal legislative framework for combating corruption is principally contained in the 2002 Penal Code, the 1999 Anti-Corruption Act4 and the 2004 Code of Criminal Procedure. 3. The implementing legislation5 came into force on 1 July 2004: Sections 297 and 298 of the Penal Code sanction the active bribery of “officials” and Section 288 defines “officials” as those in Estonia and in foreign countries. Legal persons are liable for the two offences. 4. The Estonian Constitution provides that “If laws or other legislation of Estonia are in conflict with international treaties ratified by the [Parliament], the provisions of the international treaty shall apply.” However, the Estonian authorities do not elaborate on the application of this provision in practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluation Report Evaluation of Unicef’S Contribution to the Normative Policy Framework of the Social Care Services Reform 2013-2019 in Albania
    EVALUATION REPORT EVALUATION OF UNICEF’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE NORMATIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK OF THE SOCIAL CARE SERVICES REFORM 2013-2019 IN ALBANIA APRIL 2020 Authored by: Camille Massey and Merita Poni, supported by Elayn Sammon. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF. Readers are encouraged to use material from this report for their own publications. As copyright holder, UNICEF in Albania requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication. For further information, please contact: UNICEF Albania Country Office Skenderbej Street, UN House Bld, 3rd floor Tirana, Albania Telephone: +355 4 45 48 400 Email: [email protected] Attribution: Please cite the work as follows: Massey, C. Poni, M. Sammon, E. (2020) “Evaluation of UNICEF’s Contribution to the Normative Policy Framework of the Social Care Services Reform 2013-2019 in Albania”. UNICEF in Albania EVALUATION REPORT EVALUATION OF UNICEF’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE NORMATIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK OF THE SOCIAL CARE SERVICES REFORM 2013-2019 IN ALBANIA APRIL 2020 CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 6 Acronyms .................................................................................................................................7 Executive summary .................................................................................................................8 1. Introduction
    [Show full text]
  • Compensation Management
    Compensation Management Press Dipak Kumar Bhattacharyya Professor Xavier Institute of Management,University Bhubaneswar (XIMB) Oxford © Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. CM.indb 1 5/19/2015 12:27:23 PM Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries. Published in India by Oxford University Press YMCA Library Building, 1 Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001, India © Oxford University Press 2009, 2014 The moral rights of the author/s have been asserted. First Edition published in 2009 Second Edition published in 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. Press You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-945654-3 ISBN-10: 0-19-945654-2 Typeset in Baskerville by Welkyn Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore Printed in India by Radha Press, New Delhi 110031 Third-party website addressesUniversity mentioned in this book are provided by Oxford University Press in good faith and for information only.
    [Show full text]
  • Prostitution in Havana
    chapter 16 Prostitution in Havana Amalia L. Cabezas The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries For more than 200 years, from 1566–1790 Havana, Cuba was central to the Span- ish flota, or fleet system, a convoy designed to avoid and repel attacks by other European pirates and privateers. By 1592, the Spanish crown granted Havana the title of “city” due to its large population. Its strategic importance as a ship- ping port and its location facilitated the conquest of new lands throughout the Americas. As historian Alejandro de la Fuente explains, “With the organiza- tion of the great viceroyalties of Mexico and, later, Peru, the crown’s emphasis shifted from Cuba’s settlements on the southern coast to the Cuban northwest, particularly the Bay of Havana.”1 Ships returning treasure and goods from the ports of Veracruz, Portobelo, and Cartagena congregated at Havana harbour in order to return together to Spain. For several weeks, sometimes months, Havana was a city filled with sailors, soldiers, merchants, adventurers, and trav- ellers passing the time until the ships were ready to sail back to Spain. Scholar Antonio Benítez-Rojo notes, “In 1594 the people of Havana had to provide lodg- ing, food, drink, and entertainment with song and dance for seven months to the 5,000 people who visited […] many of whom had sufficient means for the enjoyment of the pleasures that the city then offered.”2 The city of Havana is located approximately 170 kilometres from Key West, Florida at the junction of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Its clos- est neighbours are the United States, Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti.
    [Show full text]