Las Vegas Sun NewsAttorneys invited to Cuba will get look at legal system
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24 September 2012
1:55 a.m.
A group of Nevada lawyers will travel to Havana, Cuba, this month to learn about the country’s legal system and meet Cuban law professors and leaders.
“I’m excited just to see a different perspective,” said Frank Flaherty, president of the Nevada State Bar. “My gut tells me it’s going to be vastly different from our system.”
The weeklong trip for 16 lawyers starts Sept. 30 and includes a tour of the University of Havana, a meeting with representatives of Cuban parliament, a visit to the headquarters of the Association of Cuban Jurists and a meeting with leaders of the Cuban Society of Economic and Financial Law.
“I think when you look at different perspectives, it helps you germinate ideas,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty, who was elected in June, said the trip took about six months of planning. Because of Cuba’s tense relationship with the United States, every lawyer on the trip had to sign an affidavit swearing that the trip was not for commercial purposes.
The lawyers were invited to attend the trip and will pay between $4,200 and $4,500 in expenses. Flaherty said the attorneys decided to go for a number of reasons, including academic studies and international law practices.
Delegations from other state bars, including those in Washington and Minnesota, also have visited Cuba in recent years.
“This is the first communist country I’ll visit and I’m guessing it will be the last communist country I’ll visit,” Flaherty said. “It’s just really exciting.”
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Cuba urged to revoke repressive laws and release prisoners of conscience- 16 March 2010
Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the Cuban authorities to revoke laws that restrict freedom of expression, assembly and association and to release all dissidents unfairly detained by the authorities. The organization also urged President Raul Castro to allow independent monitoring of the human rights situation in Cuba by inviting UN experts to visit the country and by facilitating monitoring by other human rights groups.
"Cuban laws impose unacceptable limits on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly," said Kerrie Howard, Americas Deputy Director at Amnesty International. "Cuba desperately needs political and legal reform to bring the country in line with basic international human rights standards.
"The long imprisonment of individuals solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights is not only a tragedy in itself but also constitutes a stumbling block to other reforms, including the beginning of the dialogue needed for the lifting of the US unilateral embargo against Cuba."
Several articles of the Cuban Constitution and Criminal Code are so vague that they are currently being interpreted in a way that infringes fundamental freedoms.
Article 91 of Cuba's Criminal Code provides for sentences of ten to 20 years or death for anyone "who in the interest of a foreign state, commits an act with the objective of damaging the independence or territorial integrity of the Cuban state".
According to article 72 "any person shall be deemed dangerous if he or she has shown a proclivity to commit crimes demonstrated by conduct that is in manifest contradiction with the norms of socialist morality" and article 75.1 states that any police officer can issue a warning for such "dangerousness". The declaration of a dangerous pre-criminal state can be decided summarily. A warning may also be issued for associating with a "dangerous person".
Law 88 provides for seven to 15 years' imprisonment for passing information to the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures, such as the US economic blockade. The legislation also bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of "subversive materials" from the US government, and proposes terms of imprisonment of up to five years for collaborating with radio, TV stations or publications deemed to be assisting US policy.
Local non-governmental organizations have great difficulty in reporting on human rights violations due to restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression, association and movement. International independent human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, are not allowed to visit the island.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updat...
HAVANA TIMES : The (Non) Right of Cubans to Travel -Haroldo Dilla Alfonso-February 1, 2010-
The situation in Cuba concerning the freedom to travel is unfortunate. What I'm describing here is not for Cuban readers (who are all too familiar with this issue), but for those who are unaware of the matter and are forced to accept the information of those who close their eyes to this flagrant civil rights violation, a veritable wedge driven between the Cuban nation made up of both emigres and those residing on the island.
Above all, travel for Cubans is not a right, but a legal privilege. It is a condition that can be granted or rescinded. It is a revocable concession by an unappealable power and is without a defined judicial framework.
In all cases, the departures of these people imply considerable fees that can end up in well excess of US $500, an immense sum for a population with exceedingly depressed wages that average $20 a month. In short, to leave, each person must be able to pay for a letter of invitation, a passport and an exit permit.
On top of this, once in the destination country, the traveler must make payments to the Cuban embassy in that country a sum that varies each month they remain in that country, which is a highly uncustomary practice. This sum fluctuates between $40 and $150 a month.
There are no laws or clearly written regulations covering these processes; rather, there are arbitrary and discretionary practices that mix starkly fascist reins of political control with mercurial motivations of the worst kind. In this way, the Cuban government denies a right that it alternately sells to those who can afford it.
But we must pay them, and pay them well, so they can continue reproducing their power with the same parasitic style they've displayed over the last fifty years.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=18972