NBA VISIT TO CUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000453

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2013
TAGS: KPAO PINR PREL
SUBJECT: NBA VISIT TO CUBA

Classified By: COM MICHAEL E. PARMLY, FOR REASON 1.4 (B)


1. (U) A group of 80 members of the National Bar Association
(NBA),an association of black lawyers, judges and legal
para-professionals, recently spent a week in Cuba as part of
a humanitarian visit. USINT had two events with
representatives of this group: a sit-down dinner at the COM
residence on Monday, June 2, shortly after their arrival, and
a formal briefing at USINT on Friday, June 10, the day before
their departure. The bookend timing gave us an opportunity
to calibrate the evolving impressions of this highly
impressionable group from the beginning of the visit to its
end, as well as to influence perceptions through direct
contact with American staff members (who also served as
informal interpreters) and prominent members of Cuban civil
society.


2. (U) The dinner at the COMR was preceded by a welcome
cocktail that allowed the 70 or so NBA attendees to mingle
with American staff and the dozen Cuban invitees selected
from civil society, two of whom were lawyers. At that point,
American staff reported, the group,s experiences of Havana
had been positive with respect to the city,s appearance and
the reception they had enjoyed from Cubans on the street.
NBA members asked standard questions about the current
political climate and what it was like to live in Cuba. One
officer, however, described being &accosted8 about the U.S.
embargo, which some NBA members faulted for the poor
conditions at a hospital they had visited earlier that day.
At least one other officer encouraged NBA members to suspend
judgment until they could compare their preconceptions with
reality at the end of the visit.


3. (U) During the dinner that followed, every table had at
last one American staffer and a member of Cuban civil
society. One table consisted entirely of legal
professionals: both the American and Cuban participants were
lawyers, along with the NBA guests. That officer reported a
&fascinating dialogue between two legal worlds8 where he
served as translator. When NBA members learned that Cuban
judges were not bound by precedent and that each judge based
decisions upon his or her direct reading of the law, one
responded, &But that,s so arbitrary!8 The civil society
rep nodded in full agreement.


4. (U) Another officer reported that NBA members at his table
were &shocked8 to hear that books were censored in Cuba,
and were moved by the personal history of prominent
Afro-Cuban dissident Vladimiro Roca. All said they were
honored to be seated with him. They were also fascinated by
the story of the young woman lawyer who had defended Roca at
trial, and the personal difficulties she had experienced as a
result.


5. (U) NBA reps at another table were astounded to learn that
the Internet was not used for legal research in Cuba, and
that there were only 10 computers for 600 law students at the
University of Havana. In addition, they were told that
textbooks were old, tattered, and scribbled on, and that
students had to study antiquated civil laws and codes (rather
than cases) for five years versus the three it typically
takes to complete law school in the U.S. Despite efforts at
reform at the time of the revolution, students are still
required to memorize a large number of laws, few of which are
applicable to day-to-day situations. As a result, the Cuban
legal system is effectively stuck in the past ) cut off from
the constant updating and fresh perspectives that a system
based on evolving precedent would provide. NBA members were
likewise surprised that despite being obliged to study all
aspects of the legal system, Cuban law students are
restricted to practicing those areas of the law in which they
have performed ) and tested ) the best.


6. (U) NBA representatives were interested to hear about U.S.
cultural influences on Cuba. Vladimiro Roca, an aficionado
of American movies, related how his parents ) both die-hard
communists ) nonetheless loved American music. They were
also enthralled to hear about life as an Afro-Cuban, and were
struck to learn that this major section of the Cuban
population was essentially absent at the upper reaches of the
Cuban government. Other aspects of Cuban law and society
that surprised (and in some cases horrified) NBA members were
the facts that pregnant teens over the age of 16 are
supported by the government, that high school drop-outs are
nevertheless given jobs at age 18, and that people found to
have HIV/AIDS are placed in special hospitals until they show
signs of improvement ) an effective quarantine that could
partially account for Cuba,s low HIV infection rate.


7. (U) For their part, Cuban guests were interested in the
role of defense attorneys in the U.S. legal system, and were

HAVANA 00000453 002 OF 002


amazed to hear how quickly the defense attorney and the
rights of the accused are invoked in relation to the time of
the alleged crime. In the Cuban system the prosecutor first
works to build the case ) apparently for up to seven days
following the arrest ) before the defense attorney is
permitted to meet with the client.


8. (U) Asked what types of cases and actions the Cuban
government takes, one American staffer brought up a recent
case in which the family of a seven-year-old boy was cited
for &celebration of Fidel,s illness.8 It turns out the
boy shares a birthday with Fidel, and when the family held a
party in 2007 after Fidel,s took ill it was considered
disrespectful and the family was cited. At least one NBA rep
at the table refused to believe the staffer,s story, and
others remarked how such an incident was at variance from
what they had been told in their relatively positive
briefings prior to arrival in Havana. The doubting NBA
member eventually came around when told that such episodes
are not unusual given the level of scrutiny and harassment
refugee applicants typically are obliged to undergo.


9. (U) By the USINT briefing on June 10, the NBA members,
questions were focused on what they had seen and observed
during the week, particularly in regard to racial
inequalities and the Cuban criminal justice and prison
systems. Guests asked why the majority of the prison
population was made up of people of color, and were surprised
to learn that Cuba had a higher incarceration rate than the
United States (1.9% versus 1.7%) despite a very low incidence
of crime. Of the 80,000 inmates in Cuban jails, there are
some 225 political prisoners ) another revelation. The
guests were also interested in Law 88 and the notion of
&dangerousness,8 where people can be convicted for merely
having the potential for anti-social behavior ) such as for
contact with USINT personnel. USINT,s Coast Guard
representative fielded numerous questions about migration
numbers and the racial profile of those picked up at sea, who
are almost universally white. The group was also surprised to
hear about the lack of sociological and demographic data in
Cuba, and about discrimination in schools. They were told
that many Afro-Cuban students are tracked into technical
schools at an early age and away from a university path.


10. (C) The highlight of the briefing, however, was a lengthy
presentation by Orestes Fonseca, a Cuban Muslim and
university professor who is a regular user of USINT,s
Internet Research Centers. Far from being a lackey of the
U.S. government, Fonseca noted his opposition to the economic
embargo, but also blasted the GOC for limiting access to
information.


11. (C) COMMENT: The interaction among NBA representatives,
American staffers, and members of Cuban civil society changed
minds and shook long-held preconceptions on all sides. NBA
reps learned that the rosy briefings they had received about
the Cuban legal system prior to departure were shockingly
wrong and misleading in many respects. American staffers
were genuinely surprised by the amount of misinformation that
this highly educated and articulate group had absorbed
unquestioningly about Cuban society, especially in regard to
race, as well as by their knee-jerk willingness to blame the
U.S. and the economic embargo for all of Cuba,s ills. For
their part, Cuban attendees were impressed by the fairness
and balance of the U.S. legal system, where the rights of the
accused are emphasized in order to counter the natural
advantages accruing to government. While the level and tone
of conversation throughout were positive and free-flowing,
there was a sense that all parties were troubled by
comparisons between the Cuban and U.S. systems. One American
officer stated that &perceptions were being changed by all
that was heard and experienced on Monday night,8 while
another labeled it &really one of the most outstanding
events I ever participated in. Minds were changed.8 END
COMMENT
PARMLY