Today the court has many challenges but with its jurists stepping forward, Agramonte’s cavalry is guaranteed
By Laura Marian Bacallao Padrón/Contributor
Camagüey, Cuba, June 8th.- For Yania Chávez Pérez de Corcho, every June 8 has meant a special day for several years; since she began her higher studies until today, when she serves as vice president of the Popular Municipal Court of Camagüey, she celebrates the Day of the Cuban Jurist on this date.
It was on June 8, 1865 when the young Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz defended his thesis to graduate from the Faculty of Law.
He comments on the celebration and the challenges and commitments to which Camagüey jurists are called.
“The first thing is to have that consecration as professionals, that is, responsibility for the task we have since we are dispensing justice. We are not only judges, we are all workers in the legal sector from their functions: notaries, lawyers, prosecutors, property registry workers, civil registry workers, etc.; they all have important tasks and challenges that we face with great commitment and sense of belonging. We guarantee citizen rights, we provide accurate responses as public servants and with a guarantee within the term established with the greatest accuracy.
Not even the greatest daily challenges of the current complex situation stop the activity of the sector in every sense: we assume the news of the substantive and judicial procedural reform that the country is experiencing. This forces us to study every day, to prepare, because it happens that each case is complex because before we already knew the rules, but many new developments that are introduced lead us to assume the task of administering justice with preparation. A clear example is the Family Code: every day the population is there with many conflicts in all matters.”
Another challenge faced is educating the population in knowledge of all the regulations currently put into practice. How does the Court assume it in the territory?
“We are constantly disseminating information in the media but it is still not enough, it is necessary to explain to the population what a specific issue consists of: the procedural reform in the Code of Processes, which was standardized for all matters; the Penal Code, of people who die in freedom, the Family Code, etc. We still have a lot to do to prepare the population and ensure that they have a greater legal culture. Behind closed doors we create some spaces, through the program We Make Cuba, the presence on television of trials that have a social impact so that the population knows what the sanction is and how all the guarantees are met in the oral trial. Likewise, all trials are public, only those that involve the victim’s privacy are private, for example, a crime of rape, the rest of the trials are public.
Likewise, we have established a population service department in all the courts of the country, there is a judge in charge of responding to all the people who are interested in learning about an issue, a concern or even a complaint about some work malfunction of a judge. We still have a long way to go, we have to disseminate and educate more”.
The country is currently waging a pitched battle against illegalities, corruption, and positions that do not go against the values that we defend as a nation. How do the Court System and Cuban jurists fit into this country’s call?
“We remain intransigent in positions of this type: zero tolerance for drugs, for gender violence; We are part of the existing prevention group in each province. This prevention group against combating crime and illegalities has a stable operation every week, reporting there to the provincial government on what is happening. For example, all illegal home occupations are reported there, there is an entire protocol where the court directly participates together with the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Revolutionary Police.
We confront crime from our position in the communities, in the workplace with all the people around us, families first, schools; It is a pitched battle to prevent illegalities from multiplying.
You can also see the rigor of the sentences, the control, influence and treatment given to people who have been released, where the assistant execution judges have a job supporting the people who are inserted in the job. The exercise of the execution judge was recently carried out and certainly there 100% of those sanctioned in the province were verified, it was verified that they were inserted and that they were given adequate treatment in those institutions and work centers under the principle of their reintegration into society”.
Today the court has many challenges but with its jurists stepping forward, Agramonte’s cavalry is guaranteed. Honoring the legacy of El Mayor when dispensing justice in Cuban society will be the main conviction.