Category: Laritza Diversent

What is the Job of an Attorney in Cuba? / Laritza Diversent

I have been asked this and other questions. I do not know what the work of a lawyer in Cuba is, however there are some aspects that are noteworthy:

“The bullet entered the body of Izquierdo Medina in the left buttock. It destroyed the femoral vein crossed to reach the kidney and lung. Death was almost instantaneous. The funeral home gave the family a death certificate that certified cause of death, acute anemia. Despite the demands, Legal Medicine never gave the autopsy report to the family.”

Known: the existence of the shot and its lethal effect, so the death certificate is a falsehood.

So I ask the following questions: 1. Is there a crime of falsifying documents in Cuba? 2. If so, is there a judicial procedure to process to the funeral home?

“To date, the whereabouts of the former official are unknown.”

It is clear that, an innocent person having nothing to hide, his flight betrays him.

1. Could his flight be incriminating evidence at his trial?

“The mother of the victim, Raiza Medina, believes they want to exclude her from the trial of the murderer of her son.”

1. Is there no lawyer representing the mother?

2. Does the mother have the right to be assisted by counsel at the trial. Or to ask the same question in another way: would the mother be represented by a lawyer at the trial if she were an important person?

We mustn’t forget that Cuba is a socialist state. I understand perfectly that Laritza Diversent cannot answer the questions, because of her difficult internet connection. However, the questions have been posed.

First: Even I do not know the mission of a lawyer in Cuba. I was with the family of the teenager, they wanted me to be their lawyer of course, but I was there as a mere spectator, looking on and without the power to say anything. You can not imagine how frustrating it was for me to be in that courtroom as a spectator, not only trying to pass unnoticed, but to witness it all and I have to admit, I can do more as a journalist than as a lawyer.

Second: There is a crime of forgery in Cuba. The problem is that the funeral home did not give a false opinion. I was present at the trial. I heard the coroner address the court and affirm death as caused by acute anemia. Then explain that the bullet entered the body of the teenager in the lumbar region, crossed the left kidney, the aorta, the right lung and exited the right shoulder.

Like you, I can not relate the acute anemia with a murder, that opinion is not related to a gun shot, it seems that this is the diagnosis of a chronic disease, what’s more you can relate it to a hemorrhage, but if you look at all the vital organs that the missile destroyed it is beyond all doubt that the teen had died from loss of blood, in fact the death was almost instantaneous.

Third: In Cuba, the victims are supposedly represented by the prosecutor, or, and it’s the same thing, the State. They do not need a lawyer’s representation at trial nor to appear assisted by one. If they are not satisfied with the sanction they have the right to make appeals or to appeal through the prosecutor.

In the case of Raiza, the teen’s mother, she was not invited to trial, the prosecution barely notified her of the decision, in which case it will be very difficult for her to appeal the court’s decision.

Angel Izquierdo’s family is unhappy with the prosecutor’s request, 17 years in prison for a crime that has a standard sentence of between 15 and 30 years. The State asks for more if you kill a cow. They protested at the same trial. Of the whole spectacle, what touched me most was the anger of mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, all cried tears of helplessness. They asked me if they could appeal. I told the truth. We must await the decision of the court, however it is unlikely that the prosecution would seek a penalty greater than what it asked for in its own petition.

You asked more questions, I think with these comments I have responded to them all.

Translated by: Hank

January 19 2012

Cuban Justice Forsakes the Marginalized / Laritza Diversent

For 15 days I participated as a spectator in two trials held in the Havana Court, both pursued for the crime of murder. The first, on November 28th, I was counsel for the family of the accused, six poor people from Mantilla — a bad neighborhood of Arroyo Naranjo where I was born, grew up and live today.

They were judged for the homicide of a jeweler. The principal pieces of evidence? Traces of odor found in the ropes with which they tied the victims. Although there were only two attackers, the prosecution asked for 18 to 30 years of deprivation of liberty for all.

The goldsmith died after their aggressors fled with jewels and money. His wife gave him two pills, which he swallowed, despite a fracture in the toroid cartilage (Adam’s apple). The forensic examiner didn’t attend the trial, but in his report he certified that the victim had been violently strangled.

Those ‘insignificant’ details weren’t called to the attention of the bench. On the contrary, the bench showed special interest in the criminal histories of the accused. None had killed before, but with this criminal history, surely they were likely to have done it, which is equivalent to calling them guilty.

The other was heard on December 13th. On that occasion, I was counsel for the family of the victim – also from Mantilla. Amado Interian, an ex-police officer, shot Angel Isquierdo Medina, a 14-year-old boy, a crime that shocked the community. Four witnesses were present when the trigger was pulled. Even so, the prosecution asked for a 17 year prison sentence for the victim.

“This was no murder, it was manslaughter”, said his defense attorney. An easy thing to prove with the legal death certificate. The projectile entered through the left buttock, crossed the kidney, the aortic artery, the left lung, and exited through the shoulder; but the cause of death was acute anemia.

Again the bench placed special interest in the history of the accused. 30 years of service performed by an ex-officer on the police force diminished the fact that he fired at three black adolescents, on top of a honeyberry tree.

Angel’s family members asked me if they could appeal. The decision depended on the prosecution, who supposedly represented the victim. They are right and it’s very sad; cows have more protection from the State than does a person.

“What more can we do?”, the mothers of those six imprisoned men and the family of the adolescent asked me. Have faith and patience. We keep cheering for the lady with the blindfolded eyes, with the scales in one hand and a sword in the other.

I will probably be a hypocrite, I told myself, “to ask those mothers to have faith when I lost it some time ago”. It was then that I felt ashamed of being an attorney. I understood that sometimes I cry from powerlessness and others I cannot sleep.

It’s difficult for me to say that the luck of leaving the courtroom acquitted or convicted depends on whether you live in a bad neighborhood, if you’re black and poor, if you have powerful friends or convertible pesos to pay a lawyer, but not a defender, a learned one who might manage the benevolence of the prosecutor and the bench.

Those two trials left me with a bad taste and the certitude that everyone in this country runs risks. You don’t have to be a dissident. Whatever is exposed to judicial proceedings where the most minimal guarantees of due process are not respected.

Translated by: JT

January 20 2012

Trial of a Former Policeman Who Shot a Black Teenager / Laritza Diversent

The trial of Amado Interian was held on the afternoon of December 13th in Courtroom Number 7 of the Havana Court.  He is a former police officer who shot a 14-year-old teenager named Angel Izquierdo.  The trial had been suspended on December 9th due to a nonappearance by the defendant.

Amado Interian was dressed like an inmate, but it was not possible to find out in which prison he was being held pending trial.  The former policeman exercised his right to testify but he did not answer any questions.

The former policeman, in open court, cried and testified that he did not intend to kill anyone and he asked the victim’s family for forgiveness.  He also showed the court all of the injuries he received while serving in the police force.

The hearing began at 1:00 pm when the defense attorney arrived.  It lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes, with disorder and commotion in the courtroom.  The teenager’s family showed their disagreement with the trial and the charges brought by the prosecution and the way they tried to reduce his liability.

In its report, the prosecution acknowledged that Amado had no reason to fire his weapon at these helpless kids and kill one of them.  However, they only asked for a sentence of 17 years in prison for murder, a crime which is punishable by a sentence of 15-30 years in prison, or death.

Interian, who is 54 years old, underwent a psychiatric examination and was determined to be mentally fit and that at the time of these events, he had the capacity to understand the measure and extent of his actions.  However, there was no explanation during the hearing as to why he still had a license to carry a firearm even though he retired five years ago.

The police officer lives and works in the Montecito estate, in the village of Lajas in the Mantilla district of the municipal capital Arroyo Naranjo, where the events took place.  In the trial it was said that the estate belonged to him yet no reference was made to a deed which authorized his right to the property.

Nevertheless, it was made clear that the fruit tree was some distance from the residence of the accused and that the victim was up the tree when he was shot.  Marzo, as one of the witnesses identified themselves, owner of the estate neighbouring the ex-soldier’s and who witnessed the events, did not see when Interian fired his Colt, the murder weapon.

The witness told the court that on the afternoon of 15th July 2011 he went towards Interian’s house looking for his livestock.  He heard some voices.  He went running, machete in hand, and the ex policeman put on his shoes, shirt and took his weapon.

Interian’s neighbour first arrived at the bush where Ismael, 17 years of age, Angel and Yandi, both 14, were climbing.  All boys were of black ethnicity.  He ordered them to climb down when he heard the first shot.

Whilst the boys got down he heard the ex-policeman uttering profanities and asking his neighbours to ‘kill a black boy and f*** them up’.  Marzo heard the second shot and one of the teenagers groaning.  Angel became tangled in a branch and fell upon the impact of the bullet.

The medical expert testified in court and reasserted that the cause of death was acute anemia caused by the impact of the projectile.  The bullet entered the victim’s body in the lumbar region, went through the left kidney, the aorta and the right lung before exiting the shoulder.

The defence lawyer insisted that it was a simple case of homicide, that he was anticipating a sentence of 7 to 15 years, and that the court took into account the previous good conduct of the ex-policeman.  He also presented the medals that Interian had received during his 30 years of service in the National Revolutionary Police Force.  Maria Caridad Jiminez Medina, first cousin of the victim, exploded with rage as the defence gave its closing statement.

Immediately after, Lacadio Izquierdo, Angel’s uncle,  stood up to block the ex-soldier who moved away, guarded by more than a dozen uniformed officials of the Prisons Service of the Department of the Interior.  The officials, on more than one occasion, prevented relatives from reaching the accused.

The ex-policeman was chief of the area where the victim lived and is described as a violent and abusive man.  ’In this country you get 20 to 25 for killing a cow and for killing a child this man got 17′, said Nidia Medina, aunt of the murdered teenager.  ’We’re not going to resolve anything here, here there is no justice’ said others trying to calm the most upset.  The protest paralyzed the trial and continued in the street.

Translated by:  Hank, Sian Creely

January 5 2012

Friends / Laritza Diversent

I was a little busy at the end of the year, but I did not forget you, and I want to take advantage of the first post of 2012 to wish everyone the best for this year — health, prosperity and happiness — and especially to all Cubans who follow my post, I hope we achieve the freedom we so much desire.

I also want to thank you for the strength and encouragement you give me in your comments. You have allowed me to see different points of view. Even though I can’t exchange comments with you, I like them, although I’ve never seen your faces or heard your voices. Thank you very much.

Translated by Regina Anavy 

January 5 2012

The Havana Tribunal will judge a former military man today who shot a teenager / Laritza Diversent

Various witnesses were called by the Havana Tribunal to participate in a murder trial which began this morning, December 9th, against Amado Interian, a retired police officer who is accused of shooting a black, 14-year-old teenager on July 15th of this year.  The teenager’s name was Alain Izquierdo.

According to Ismael Suarez Herce, a 17-year-old cousin of the victim who is an eyewitness to what happened, Interian (also known as “El Pinto”) caught the two of them climbing a mamoncillio tree on a farm.  The approximately 60-year-old man got mad and said to them “Hey, negro, you’ll see what’s going to happen to you,” and then he shot his 45 caliber revolver.  At the time of these acts, the former military man had a license to carry firearms.

The bullet entered Izquierdo’s body through his left buttock.  It destroyed his femoral artery, passed through his kidney and reached his lung.  Death was almost instantaneous. The funeral parlor gave the family a death certificate stating that the cause of death was acute anemia. Despite the demands of the family, the coroner never gave them any autopsy information.

The farm where this happened is located in Las Lajas, in Mantilla, a marginal neighborhood with a predominantly black population of low means which is relatively dangerous.  Suarez Herce said that they dared to go there in order to jump into the Abelardo dam in Calvario to swim.

The former policeman, Amado Interian, was the head of the police sector in various localities in Arroyo Naranjo, the poorest and most violent municipality in the Cuban capital.  Neighbors and family of the victim describe Interian as an angry man who was trigger happy.  As a retired military man, he will be tried under the civil penal code which provides a penalty for the crime of murder of up to 15 to 30 years of incarceration.

The current location of the former official is unknown.  He was being held in Valle Grande, the same place where the older brother of his victim was, awaiting trial.  Prisoners residing in the Mantilla zone are sure that he is not there or in Combinado del Este, the maximum security prison located in Havana.

The victim’s mother, Raiza Medina, believes that they want to exclude her from participating in the trial of the man accused of killing her son.  She has not received any summons as an affected party.  An official named Aiza, who attends to victims at 100 and Aldabo, told her that affected parties are not summoned.  She recommended that Raiza contact the official in charge of the case.  As of today, no one in the criminal investigation division has responded to her calls.

Translated by:  Hank

December 9 2011

Tomorrow the Havana Tribunal will try the former military man who shot a teenager / Laritza Diversent

Tomorrow, December 9th, the Havana Tribunal will hear the case against a former military man named Amado Interian who is accused of having used his 45 caliber pistol to shoot a teenager named Alain Izquierdo Medina — a black 14-year-old who was coming down from a fruit tree on his property.

Translated by Hank

December 8 2011

Work in Progress / Laritza Diversent

Roberto Lopez arrived early at the Arrroyo Naranjo Property Registry. His plan was to divide his house. One part of the house was to be donated to his only granddaughter and the other was to be sold. He is 70 years old and he needs resources to live. He was number 10 in line that morning, but when it was his turn, they told him that he could not register his house.

As of the enactment of the new norms decreed by the Council of State, which modifies the law regarding housing, Cuban property owners are running en masse to the Notary of Property Registration in order to comply with the new laws required to place their titles in compliance with the new legal standards.

The now traditional lines in front of these institutions start in the early morning, and by the end of the day there are always people who have not been seen. Not all has been resolved. Time ran out to get things done, but the government does not provide an adequate infrastructure or sufficient personnel to deal with the demand required by the new laws.

It doesn’t matter, Cubans are used to it. With incredible patience, they wait for their turn to be attended to. There is, however, no shortage of people who lack the right paperwork. After waiting four hours in line, it is not easy to deal with not achieving your goal simply because of omissions or errors that are not your fault but which are the fault of the office that granted the title to the property in the first place.

“You need to update your title in order to sign up your house on the Property Register,” the specialist tells Roberto. The procedure is required for those who want to sell, trade or donate their houses. “What does that mean?” asked the old man disconcertedly.

“The measurements, boundaries and also the area are missing in the description of your house,” responded the lawyer who was looking over his documents. An omission that most of the property titles written before 2003 suffer.

“First you should go to the office of the community architect and request his services to carry out a technical opinion and an appraisal, then, with the architectural document, you need go to the notary so they can rectify the omissions, and last return here to request the registration of your property,” added the specialist.

It sounds easy enough, but the process would require getting up early and losing a day of work to stand in line at the architect’s, another day at the Notary’s, and yet another day at the Property Registry. That’s without counting the time that each step would take. “It looks like my plans will take at least three more months,” commented Mr. López without much enthusiasm.

The buyer for Roberto’s house is not disposed to wait. He plans to pay to speed up the process. Haste is valid in all parts of the world, but it signifies corruption for the Cuban government, one of the aggravating battles of life on the inside.

That’s how the island’s recently approved regulation has begun to be applied. It permits the buying and selling of houses and eliminates one source of illegalities. It also increases the workload of the state functionaries without increasing their salaries. No doubt the corruption and prevarication of those workers remains as a work in progress.

Translated by: Hank and Scott

December 3 2011

Cubans Can Sell Their Homes / Laritza Diversent

This past November 2nd, the Cuban government published the Legal Decree Number 288 that modified the “General Law of the Home”, and permitted the buying and selling of real estate between private parties, until then it was prohibited by national legislation.

The new law took effect the 10th of November and generally permits owners: Cubans and foreign permanent residents in the country to dispose freely of their real estate.

However, it keeps as a legal requirement, the possibility of owning only one family home and another located in a vacations or summer area. With respect to the exchanges, donations, and trading, it establishes that it can be formalized before a notary public of the municipality where the real estate is located, prior to registration in the Property Registry.

The real estate registry started to operate in Cuba in the middle of the 19th century. In the 60s, it came to a standstill with the creation of the General Housing Law, ending legal sales. It was reopened in 2003, due to the requirements of foreign investment. Currently, it constitutes an indispensable requirement to carry out transfers of ownership.

The legal decree also eliminated the existing permit that owners had to obtain from the Municipal Director of the Home, to trade and donate their real estate. Also, it repealed the method of losing a building (confiscation), in cases of transfers of property, construction, expansion, and illegal rehabilitation of houses.

Nevertheless remaining in force are the restrictions of freedom of residence, which impose migratory rules for the capital and for zones of high significance for tourism undergoing a special administrative regimen, as is the case with Old Havana, in the capital, Veradero, and Matanza.

The Legal Rules permit compensation in the case of a difference in the values of the real estate that is traded, which was forbidden before. Also, they reestablish the rights of heirs who are able, in every case, to be awarded the housing, if and when they have no other property. Previously, the beneficiary dweller acquired the property, otherwise, the law recognized the cohabitant.

It maintains the confiscation for leaving the country, but it permits family members to acquire the real estate for free. Before, the state sold the confiscated houses, or some of them, to the co-owner or cohabitant who could show they had lived for 10 years with the emigrant owner. Also, they could not dispose of the housing during the four years before their departure, a restriction that was eliminated.

It imposed the payment of taxes for the Transfer of Real Estate for those who acquire the housing and for the sellers, through Personal Taxes. The taxes on the purchase are based on 4% of the value of the home and are paid in Cuban pesos.

In general, the new law eliminated a series of prohibitions that prevented Cubans from exercising the powers of disposal arising from their ownership. However, it keeps some restrictions pertaining to freedom of movement within the national territory, which impedes the full realization of this right.

On the other hand, it simplifies a series of bureaucratic obstacles. However, the paperwork and the time it takes to exercise this right will be hardly reduced. The state does not have the adequate infrastructure and the conditions for the provision of legal services with the efficiency and the quality that the new regulations require.

Translated by: BW, Haydee Diaz

November 14 2011

Behind the New Changes / Laritza Diversent

The new housing regulations in force struck down part of the laws that prevented Cuban emigrants from disposing of their homes before leaving the country permanently. But it left in force Law 989 of December 5, 1961, which requires permission to enter and exit, and the confiscation of property for this reason.

Before the recent measures were approved, it was rumored that this law would be removed from the Cuban legal system. However, only the rule that supplemented it was repealed; its application was still permitted.

The National Housing Institute, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior, through Joint Resolution No. 1/2011, repealed the resolution issued August 22, 1995, which made effective the implementation of Law 989/1961, and which was intended to prevent someone from avoiding confiscation and disposal of property before leaving the country.

Why would they leave in effect a law that has lost all meaning? With the new changes the State could confiscate a home if the owners have not disposed of it before emigrating. Nor does it make sense to keep the law, because it imposes on Cubans the need to get permission to enter and exit. The current Immigration Act and its regulations impose and regulate the manner of obtaining such permits.

Nevertheless, rumors continue to spread about the approval of a new immigration law by the end of this year. If that happens, perhaps Law 989/1961 will be expressly repealed. It’s rumored that they might extend the length of stay abroad for two years. Right now Cuban residence is lost after one is absent from the country for 11 months and a day.

The more enthusiastic say that where there’s smoke there’s fire, a popular saying among the islanders. Personally I am not so optimistic. It’s hard for me to believe that the government would give up its control over emigration so easily.

On one thing there is no doubt: Law 989/1961 will pass into disuse. Perhaps it will be repealed tacitly. However, in the Cuban legal system, a law that is not expressly repealed remains in effect. A law that governs by tradition.

The problem is a possible backlash. In 1993, the State, with the coming of the Special Period, allowed the rise of self-employment. In 1997 they began restricting licenses for self-employment, which were eliminated in October 2010 with the new regulations for this sector. Uncertainty refuses to abandon us.

There is also no doubt that the changes that have occurred and those that are rumored to come are good and hoped for by the Cubans. The problem is that their adoption and permanence depend solely on the will of the political class, which is entering into a period of general elections in 2012.

Perhaps it’s nothing more than that, a strategy to increase the level of acceptance of the Communist Party of Cuba among the population. It’s not by chance that it’s happening in the second half of the first term of the head of state and government, and the First Secretary of the only recognized political organization governing the country, Raul Castro Ruz. Maybe it’s a simple coincidence, but I don’t think so.

Translated by Regina Anavy

November 29 2011

Cuban Government Authorizes the Sale of Cars / Laritza Diversent


Tuesday the 27th, the government published in the Gaceta Oficial de la Republica (Official Gazette of the Republic) a legislative package that regulates the sale and donation of automobiles between private citizens. The new legislation will become effective October 1st.

Translated by: lapizcero

September 29 2011

A Stone in the Shoe / Laritza Diversent

I don’t intend to persuade anyone that Cuba is some kind of hell. Nor to change the mind of those who imagine that it’s a paradise. But it still bothers me to read in the national press that Washington is taking measures to tighten the embargo.

I’m not a politician, but every morning is filled with problems, with transport, with food, with medicines, etc. Everything is a problem and I don’t think that it is because of the US embargo, although it’s the perfect excuse.

After 50 years, the US measure became a matter of policy, and it is a political measure, not an economic one. In the currency collecting shops there are US products and Cuba also imports food from that country. Nevertheless, things are still bad because of the blockade, at least that is what we read daily in the national press.

On the other hand, the man in the street doesn’t notice the embargo despite the propaganda on the hoardings that reminds him that, in one week without a blockade, it would be possible to buy 11 railway engines. All this is immaterial when you are looking for something to eat, or trying to avoid political persecution, for a pound of coffee and two pounds of cheese.

There is a single truth; the embargo has not brought down the communist regime and its removal wouldn’t end all the social problems. The sad thing is that both governments treat it as war of attrition, and others have to pay the price.

U.S. contractor Alan Gross,expressed his desire to improve communication between Cuba and other countries, a gesture that is both valued and appreciated. But that is not enough when facing a sentence in Cuba. This is an outcome of the political dispute between Cuba and the United States.

If you want to know what I think, I am in favor of the elimination of the embargo or at least the more detrimental parts of it. I consider it to be an ineffective measure, though I recognize that the people whose properties were confiscated by the government deserve fair compensation.

It’s time to put forward ideas and to negotiate, if we are truly interested in the future of Cuba. This is the moment, and the opportunity. The popularity of the charismatic leader is very low, the socialist economy is bankrupt and they is no way to deal with the needs of society.

It just needs the “threat from outside ” to disappear for Cubans to act for themselves, not conditioned by hunger. Those who believe that a tightening of the blockade will bring us out on the streets beating cooking-pots are wrong. If it didn’t happen before, it certainly won’t now.

It’s true. Possibly, after a hypothetical elimination of the embargo, the government will continue to require travel permits to leave the island, will deport easterners from the capital back to their provinces, and will not allow us to invest in the economy on equal terms with foreigners.

Nor will it stop repressing anyone who opposes its policies. That is, there will no more freedoms. However, the information blockade might disappear, Cubans could have more contact with other countries and, above all, there would be no justification for those leaders who have spent 50 years blaming the blockade for their own failure.

It’s time to think, with our feet on the ground, and especially those who live across the sea, in democracy. It is wrong for them to play politics with our misery. The embargo is a stone in the shoe, for the transition.

Translated by: Jack Gibbard

September 18 2011

The Embargo and How it Concerns Us / Laritza Diversent

US politics is back to debating it. As far as they see it, Cuban dissenters are divided into those who are in favor, and those who are against the embargo. Each side contributes its reasons, but few stop to think about the advantages that the elimination of the US policy represents, in the preservation of its personal freedom.

It is difficult for any dissident to ignore the Gag Law, Number 88, which protects “the National sovereignty and the Cuban economy;” The law penalizes “acts aimed to support, facilitate, or collaborate with the objectives of the Helms-Burton law, the ‘blockade’, and economic warfare.”

Does it mean, then, that the abolition of the Helms-Burton Law would take away the underpinnings of the law which considers any and all statement or activity questioning the Communist policies within the Island to be subversive and a disturbance to the public order, promoted and stimulated by the US Government?

Simple acts such as talking on the phone with the Radio Marti broadcasting station, reporting an event that happened inside the Island, expressing an opinion about government policies, publishing in a foreign newspaper, or participating in a peaceful demonstration are enough to suffer between 2 and 15 years in prison and be fined between fifty thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand pesos.

Sanctions can extend to 20 years if, among other reasons, financial support from the US is received, or if the Cuban authorities consider that the transgression can cause harm to the national economy, or if the US Government retaliates against Cuban or foreign entities, or against any of their representatives or their families.

It seems as if the prison time suffered by 75 dissidents, victims of this law, has not been enough to make us understand that it is time to make decisions about the embargo thinking about the Cuban people and not their government. The international pressure and solidarity is appreciated, but it alone will not prevent that in the future more dissidents will suffer imprisonment for the same causes.

There are also sanctions for those who distribute financial aid, material or otherwise, from the US including the Europeans in solidarity with our cause who, as far as the Cuban government is concerned, also support the US policy.

The case of Alan Gross showed that even Human Rights activists run a risk when they come to the Island to help us. I do not understand the conflicting positions. Could it be that we need more people in jail?

I can understand those on the outside who wait with anticipation the arrival of democracy in Cuba, even that it is easy to ask for a hardening of the embargo, if they have no skin in the game. I do not, however, understand those on the inside asking for the same thing. Do they want to become heroes? As far as I am concerned I prefer freedom in the widest sense of the word and to be present every time my son needs me.

Translated by: JR

September 12 2011

Party Prepares Itself for Next Elections / Laritza Diversent

The Communist Party of Cuba works arduously to realize a full identity between its members and those of the government, and to guarantee that its politics are approved unanimously in the National Assembly, the body that represents and expresses the will of more than 11 million Cubans.

The sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba was the beginning of the preparations, of the partisan organization, for the next general elections. The goal is to renew state bodies for the new term of office that begins in 2013.

The Communist Party of Cuba is the only political organization that is recognized as legal within the Cuban system. The Constitution of 1976 recognizes it as “the superior ruling force of Cuban society and of the Government” and even though it does not participate in the elections, its leaders need to also be candidates for national deputies, which will later make up the state bodies.

During the closure of the partisan congress, last April, a National Conference was announced for the next January 28, months before the beginning of preparations for the electoral process.

One of the top subjects the Communists will touch on in their meeting is, “…the policy of party leaders as political leaders as well as in institutions and organizations”. Something very convenient for National Deputies’ candidacy projects, who prepare and present representatives of social and mass organizations*.

In view of the holding of this meeting, between May 20 and July 13, the Assemblies for Balance of the Party* at that level, were carried out in the 15 provinces. These meetings are still in progress in the 169 municipalities of the country.

The debate process is now inverted, from top to bottom and with only one explanation. In 2012 the electoral process must be executed. First will come the elections for delegates who make up the Municipal Assemblies, and once these are established, those for Provincial Delegates and later those for National Deputies who make up the  government bodies.

The deputy candidates are presented for nomination at the Municipal Assemblies by the Candidacy Committees from different levels. Then they are nominated by the recently established Municipal assemblies and elected by citizens.

The candidacy Committees are made up of representatives from the Center for Workers of Cuba (CTC), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), the University Student Federation (FEU) and from the Secondary Education Student Federation (FEEM).

However, several of the maximum leaders of these organizations, aside from being deputies and members of the State Council, are also members of the Communist Party of Cuba. Salvador Valdés Mesa, secretary general of the CTC, is a member of the Political Bureau. Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, secretary general of the FMC, and Orlando Lugo Fonte, President of the ANAP, are both part of the Central Committee.

At this time, 20 of the 31 members of the State Council are on the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and 72% of the party members, are deputies. There is no doubt the level of coincidence will increase with the next Parliamentary mandate, as the highest expression of the one party system, the concentration of power, characteristic of the socialist democracy.

*Translator’s note:
Party Assemblies at the level of each province, whose subject was the debate and evaluation of common practices and policies, with the goal of improving these.

Translated by: Claudia D.

August 15 2011

Ex-Police Official in Same Jail as His Victim’s Brother / Laritza Diversent

Amado Interian, the former official of the Ministry of the Interior, who shot Angel Izquierdo Medina, 14, while Mr. Medina was eating fruit from a mamoncillo tree this past July 15th, is being held in the same prison awaiting trial, as the victim’s brother.

“They put him there so that my son can carry the rap for the murder he didn’t commit,” affirmed Raiza Medina, mother of Izquierdo Medina, referring to the authorities, when her eldest son informed her, from the Valle Grande prison in Havana, that they had placed his brother’s assassin, in the same prison where he was being held.

“I am not healthy enough to withstand 20 more years, they know that a death in there costs 20 years”, said Raiza, who suffers from a chronic renal insufficiency and fears for her eldest son, Roilan Herce Medina, arrested, according to the family, for an alleged assault.

“I know that my son remains there and it’s going to get complicated, because one has to have very cold blood knowing that someone has murdered your brother, seeing the assassin on a daily basis, and not being able to do anything,” she commented. Mrs. Medina thinks that the authorities did it on purpose so that her son will react against Interian.

“They are finding an excuse so that later they will be able to take him (Mr. Medina) out of there and put him in his son’s house, who is an assembly deputy and who is doing everything possible to put the land where his father killed my son, in his father’s name.”

“Maybe they are only looking for one or another of them to seek revenge and take justice into their own hands”, said the maternal grandmother of Angel Izquierdo. Many of the residents of Mantilla, where the young Izquierdo lived and where Amado Interian practiced as Chief of the police sector, are serving sentences or awaiting trial in the same penitentiary.

According to information given to the victim’s mother by Major Maikel Nuviola, the preliminary investigations into her son’s death are inconclusive due to a lack of statements by two witnesses who accompanied the young Mr. Izquierdo, that fateful day.

It was Mrs. Izquierdo who took a second set of declarations made by the two witnesses to the Department of Territorial Investigations, on 100th and Aldabo, because the first statements taken the day of the killing, were lost at a police station in Capri. Additionally, the present statements have not yet reached the hands of the District Attorney because he is on vacation.

Regarding the alleged cause of death, acute anemia, certified by the authorities, the victim’s mother affirmed, that the investigator on the case and the state institution, confirmed to her that the bullet shot by Interian entered her son’s body from the left side, destroyed the femoral artery, crossed through his kidneys and liver, then lodged itself in the lung, causing the youth’s death almost instantly.

Translated by Ya Viene LLegando

August 22 2011