Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

CUBA: Corruption Crack-Down Aims High

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jun 21 2006 (IPS) - The “war on corruption” declared by President Fidel Castro late last year has shaken the uppermost reaches of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), with a 12-year prison sentence recently handed down to a former member of the country’s top government body.

Juan Carlos Robinson, 49, a key PCC Central Committee member for 20 years, was tried on charges of influence peddling, according to a statement from the ruling Politburo, published Wednesday in the official Granma newspaper.

“It was demonstrated that Robinson Agramonte, in the open process of his ideological weakening and with abuse of his position, forgot his high responsibilities and the integrity demanded of a revolutionary cadre and used his influence to obtain benefits,” read the Granma text.

On Apr. 28, Granma had reported Robinson’s expulsion from the PCC, Cuba’s only political party.

According to the official report, Robinson had received several criticisms, warnings and orders to clean up his act, but “instead of taking heed,” his “arrogance, abuse of authority, indiscretions and undermined ethical principles” became even more flagrant. Local observers say that the Cuban government is making an example of Robinson and his sentence, to further its agenda to eliminate different tendencies that could weaken the socialist system, including “from within.”

On Nov. 17, Castro publicly warned of the possibility that the system could “self-destruct,” citing this threat as the impulse driving the “battle against corruption” and other vices, such as theft, diversion of funds and abuse of power in state-owned corporations. “Either we defeat the problem, or we die,” he warned then.

The plan of attack included deploying thousands of social workers to prevent pilfering at gas stations, sending party representatives to inspect hundreds of work centres and firing several state corporation officials.

This is not the first time Cuba has launched this kind of offensive. In July 1996, the socialist government implemented a Code of Ethics for state leaders, and declared its commitment to persevering in the “long and difficult” battle against corruption at all levels.

The code, which is still in effect, prohibits public employees from using their position for personal gain, to benefit family or friends or as a basis for negotiating favours, while calling for honesty, modesty and restraint and condemning arbitrariness, vanity and substandard professional conduct.

High-profile cases involving top officials have included that of former Cuban Civil Aeronautics Institute President Luis Orlando Domínguez, jailed in 1987 for maintaining an excessively high standard of living given the country’s economic situation.

And in mid-1989, a trial of military officers accused of ties to drug trafficking culminated with the death penalty for General Arnaldo Ochoa, Colonel Antonio de la Guardia, Captain Jorge Martínez and Major Armando Padrón.

In a parallel incident, known as the “Ochoa Case,” Diocles Torralba, former vice president and transport minister, was found guilty on corruption and other charges.

In 1992, Carlos Aldana, head of the Communist Party Ideological Department, was sacked and sent to work outside Havana for taking advantage of his position for personal gain.

In 1995, authorities were alerted to shady dealings in some joint ventures that incorporated foreign capital, which were followed by similar incidents in various economic sectors, such as tourism. In 2001, then-Fisheries Minister Orlando Rodríguez was fired for his lack of control over corrupt subordinates.

The ousting of ex-Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina in 1999 and his subsequent “dishonourable” expulsion from the Communist Party made major waves. Robaina was accused in 2002 of covering up information, maintaining close, unauthorised relations with foreign politicians and accepting gifts from businessmen in exchange for favours.

Cuban law punishes the crime of bribery with eight to 20 years in prison. The legislation also outlines punishments for influence peddling, embezzlement and diversion of funds.

Current Minister of Foreign Affairs Felipe Pérez Roque has said the future of Cuba’s socialist system in the so-called “post-Castro era” depends on the commitment of those in power “to restraint, dedication to work and renouncement of privileges.”

Cubans must rest assured that, the higher the level of government at which errors, betrayal and corruption are discovered, the more severely they will be dealt with, Pérez Roque said last October.

Robinson’s sentencing came on the heels of a flurry of dismissals and appointments. Since January, new party secretaries have been named in five of Cuba’s 14 provinces, and the ministers of auditing and control, light industry and higher education have all been replaced.

In some cases, the sackings have been attributed to the former ministers’ job performance. But in general terms they are viewed as part of a methodical renovation that was to have taken place during the 6th Communist Party Congress, which had been originally scheduled for 2002.

Top Party officials have not publicly explained the reason why the congress was not held within the stipulated five years. The party congress is traditionally the forum in which the country’s main political and social-economic development strategies are set.