CUBA TRIP
In my last legal update, I announced my upcoming trip to Cuba to meet with Cuban leaders, learn about the legal and business climate and the prospects of doing business with Cuba in the future. I returned with pages of notes, hundreds of photos and a pile of work on my desk. I am surprised at how long it has taken me to get it all organized.
Many Americans travel to Cuba each year – some legally, as we did, others illegally. While it is not actually illegal to go to Cuba, economic sanctions prohibit spending money in Cuba or buying Cuban products. Cuba welcomes Americans, and many travel by first going to Mexico. Last year, the United State prosecuted almost 2,000 Americans for traveling to Cuba. Fines up to $7,500 were sought. However, those prosecuted are just a small fraction of the Americans going to Cuba.
I traveled under the auspices of the Hispanic Bar Association with 16 judges, 30 attorneys and their guests. The trip was licensed by the United States Treasury Department and, therefore, not only was it legal, we were allowed to return with cigars, rum and other Cuban artifacts.
It is not very difficult to get a license to go to Cuba. The United States Treasury Department grants licenses for several reasons. If you have relatives in Cuba, you may travel with up to six companions. Journalist are allowed to travel to Cuba. Athletes and artist can travel for events or to exhibit.
Our license was based upon an educational exchange, a so-called “People-to-People” program. Officially, we were there for to learn about Cuba’s legal system. A search on the Internet will find that there can be an exchange for just about any interest of any American. There are baseball trips to Cuba; golf trips, ballet trips, bird watching trips; cigar trips. You name it, there will be a trip for you.
Tourism is Cuba’s number one industry. Cuba welcomes Americans. It is America that is trying to keep Americans from going. Americans are just about the only people not going to Cuba. The Cuban embargo is clearly hurting that country and Cubans are looking forward to it ending. To them it is just a matter of time. The general attitude of Cubans toward Americans is that they cannot understand why the government is so hostile. They believe that U.S. policies toward Cuba is unfairly influenced by a small minority of Americans who Cuban ex-patriots.
Despite the lack of official relations between the United States and Cuba, it is clear that the United States has a big influence in Cuba. The United States dollar is an official currency. Everything is priced in United States dollars. One of the nicest buildings in Havana is the American Embassy, which is now officially the American Interest Section. The Interest Section is staffed and you many cars that are licensed to the American Interest section. Yet, no American official met with our group while we were there. We were only made aware of the American Interest section by the Cubans who missed no opportunity to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the the Embargo.
I was not able to achieve one of my principle goals of learning how the Cuban legal system works. This was not because of a lack of effort. We had meetings with economic experts, law professors, and even Supreme Court Justices. Because of time restraints, presentations were necessarily superficial. While we were given lots of time for questions, the answers to even the simplest questions, were long and laborious. For example, when one of the Justices was asked if defendants were appointed counsel at the expense of the State if they couldn’t afford private representation, the answer began with Christopher Columbus coming to Cuba. Ten minutes later, you had the general feeling that the answer was “every defendant can have representation.” Thus, asking questions had limited value.
In any event, after a week in Cuba my best understanding of the legal system, is that it is made up of many specialized courts. Every state in the United States has a court of general jurisdiction. I do not think that is the case in Cuba. Labor matters are handled by one court, contracts by another. There are different courts, depending upon the crime. Courts consist of three judges. Two have legal training and are appointed by the Cuban General Assembly. The third is a lay judge, who serves for no more than two months each year. There are appeals, but the Supreme Court consists of thirty judges that are divided into divisions — again, based upon expertise.
My understanding of the political system is equally vague. Officials would insist that they have a democratic parliamentary system. The National Assembly consists of representatives, each elected locally. It then elects an executive committee, which elects the president. In theory, Fidel Castro could simply be voted out of power by his local constituents. Moreover, the Communist Party is not permitted to participate in elections.
Yet, the general population does not involve itself in politics or elections. I was amazed when, during the presentation of the economic expert, he was asked a question about how certain ministers got their jobs. The response was that he was not a political expert. The question was best directed to a political expert. My thought was that the question was similar to asking how our Secretary of the Treasury got his job. In the United States, every high school student should know the answer without referring to an expert. In talking with Cubans I met randomly, it appeared that politics were irrelevant. Most questions were answered with, “I depends upon what Fidel wants.”
Probably about the most important question is what is going to happen after Fidel Castro. Most people were unsure. As one of the law professors told us, it would all depend upon the circumstances of Fidel’s demise. For example, he might die after a long illness. He might become incompetent before dying. His brother, Raul, who is Vice President, may die first. In the end, it would be up to the National Assembly, and no one seemed to feel that there was anyone who was a likely candidate to succeed Fidel Castro. In short, there is a lot of uncertainty about what is going to happen after Fidel. Yet no one seems to really care.
My desire to learn more about the business climate in Cuba did not meet with much more success than learning about the legal system. Many foreign companies unaffiliated with American companies are doing business in Cuba. The usual foreign investment involves a joint venture in which the foreign investor owns up to 49%. However, the history of nationalization of businesses and the uncertainty of what is going to happen in Cuba after Fidel Castro makes investment somewhat risky. Clearly, Cuba’s infrastructure is crumbling and there is a need to work on it. That is were the business opportunities will lie after Fidel.
In the end the most satisfying part of the trip was soaking up Cuban Culture. Music was everywhere. I enjoyed the seafood and the atmosphere in all the places I ate. One of the great charms of Cuba are the old hotels and the old cars. Cuba is a great time capsule. You often feel that you are in Miami Beach in the 1950’s. I particularly enjoyed my visit to the Riviera Hotel which was built in the 1950’s by Mayer Lansky. It is a duplicate of the Riviera Hotel in Miami Beach. However, the decor has not been updated since the 1950’s.
