The phenomenon
of corruption requires an organized response
• Attorney General of the Republic Darío Delgado Cura

REFLECTING on the phenomenon of corruption in Cuba is not only an academic exercise, but also an important and urgent responsibility, given the clear consequences it generates in the moral, economic and social order and the possibility of its development in any kind of society. We are doing so at a particularly relevant time, immersed in the updating of Cuba's economic model, with the goal of ensuring the continuity and irreversibility of socialism.

Corruption is not a Cuban problem; it is not a consequence of socialism. We can assure those who fault us that, if there is a social system in a position to confront and prevent corruption effectively, it is socialism, because it is a system in which culture and general education are the pillars of society. Men and women are taught the value of following one's conscience, dignity, decorum and principled behavior, and their leaders: austerity, self-sacrifice and respect for the people.

We have come to this international event to discuss something which goes beyond concepts; we have come to promote an open, frank, responsible and committed exchange of experiences in relation to corruption, confronting and preventing it, with a focus on the problems we have yet to resolve, on the roots of these problems and possible solutions, on the role of law accompanying the transformation of everything which needs to be changed, and on the role each one of us can play in this work.

Speeches are not enough; it is not enough to be convinced that this is something dangerous to our societies. We must have the will to prevent and confront corruption and, unfortunately, not everyone confronts it in the same way and some people do not confront it, but rather live with it, make a living from it and tolerate it.

In other places around the world, there is much talk of delinquency and of white collar crime, but prisons have the color of poverty, of minorities and the marginalized, of those with the least, of children who work and also, of the impunity those responsible for these realities enjoy.

How do we explain to our people that some of those responsible for the care and preservation of that which belongs to them do not fulfill those obligations, or take advantage of their position to deny the people that which is rightfully theirs? Those who behave this way, let there be no doubt, are betraying their people.

Corruption is a phenomenon with many causes in which individual behavior, motivated by moral, ethical, economic and political factors, is combined with a lack of supervision, permissiveness and the violation of established legal norms.

Around the world, there is a growing awareness that the struggle against corruption is essential if effective, just and efficient government is to be achieved. International legal documents have, without doubt, contributed to the development of this consciousness, among them the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which constitutes a valuable tool with which to wage the battle and implement effective strategies.

For Cubans, this consciousness of the need to struggle against the political corruption permeating our country was one of the reasons we initiated, and were able to achieve, the revolutionary victory of 1959. This is how peoples struggle when they want to win their freedom.

The struggle against corruption was undertaken when successive governments sacked the state treasury and left the people in the worst conditions of poverty. The struggle against corruption was undertaken when they enriched themselves in the name of the people, when 600,000 Cubans were out of work, when 500,000 agricultural workers lived in miserable shacks or when 400,000 industrial workers had no pensions, lived in infernal barracks and faced a future of wage cuts and the loss of their jobs. And when 100,000 small farmers who lived and died on land they did not own were evicted, as Fidel denounced in his defense statement, known as History Will Absolve Me, during the unjust trial of the Moncada combatants,

It is true that corruption exists in our society, as it is true that our very essence is violated by being the only country in the world which the United States has brutally blockaded, to force us to tire of the struggle, to force us to renounce that which we have accomplished, to portray for younger generations a society without a future. Really, this empire has yet to understand us.

In our country, the corruption we face is administrative and has been identified at certain levels within several sectors, principally within enterprises.

According to the fundamental principles of our judicial system, state policy to prevent and confront corruption is based on respect for the law; transparency in the exercise of public responsibilities; the participation of the citizenry using their constitutional rights to file complaints and charges against state bodies and agencies, and their obligation to make an appropriate response.

There is an increase in popular participation, with people exercising this right to inform the appropriate bodies of alleged acts of administrative corruption or other illegalities related to the misuse of public material and financial resources, for whatever reason whatsoever.

Currently being strengthened is the role of accounting as a mechanism of vital importance in the prevention and elimination of corruption, with continual improvement in the Internal Accounting System, as seen most recently with the creation of the General Comptroller of the Republic's Office as the nation's supreme authority in this area.

The constitution of a group of bodies working together to focus on the prevention, elimination and ongoing struggle against indiscipline, illegality and manifestations of corruption - the General Comptroller of the Republic's Office, the Attorney General's Office, the National Banking Authority, among others -shows that the most successful response to corruption, and the conditions which allow for its existence, requires the participation of all, regardless of formal positions or scope of responsibility.

As part of the policy outlined by the Cuban state to prevent and confront corruption, also defined with the severity required are the penal measures to be followed given the occurrence of these kinds of crimes, as evidenced in the substantive law we have which indicates, clearly and coherently, the sentences associated with corruption and the sanctions to be imposed in each type of case.

Today’s issues demand that the institutions responsible for preventing and confronting corruption are better trained and that new, more rational, comprehensive, rapid and severe methods are used in order to demand the appropriate accountability, without affecting the country's interests in relation to foreign investment and national development, while at the same time achieving due respect, order, discipline, demand and efficiency in this sphere.

In the administrative area, rigor has increased in the implementation of disciplinary measures against persons who, in one way or another, take part in acts of corruption, by emphasizing the responsibility of higher-ranking officials and ensuring that the adopted measures befit the seriousness of the behavior detected.

Among measures taken to implement and encourage more effective practices to prevent corruption, the Attorney General's office has begun to exert overall control over legal issues, to represent the state in taking punitive action, to struggle against the abuse of authority and unearned compensation, and to contribute to the prevention of crime and anti-social conduct.

The phenomenon of corruption requires an organized response with broadbased participation: attorneys, judges, auditors, legal consultants, lawyers and notaries, and including the adoption of a preventive and coherent penal policy to respond to the diverse and increasing number of cases emerging today.

The prevention strategies put in place by the Attorney General's office have contributed to the comprehensive implementation of financial oversight of state and economic and social entities, with the aim of confirming the level of compliance with laws and norms currently in force, and the control, use and destination of resources allotted by the state. These strategies are also aimed at verifying the level of fulfillment of the guidelines adopted to guarantee that workers are duly acquainted with the result of audits and persons responsible for corrupt behavior.

The Code of Ethics, in force since July 16, 1996 and signed by all Cuban officials, establishes the behavioral model to be followed by persons in a leadership position or who occupy public office in state and government bodies, or in their institutions and networks of entities and organizations, while reaffirming the will to preserve ethics as a key element in the undertaking of public functions.

In addition to the aforementioned, we must acknowledge that the challenges that we are facing today are serious and complex; among which we could mention, just as examples, the protection of Cuban capital in joint ventures or any another form of association, the responsibility borne by the Cuban party, procedural requirements to pursue crimes committed in private legal entities and the concept of an official and public servant.

Other issues included among these challenges are the penal responsibilities of legal entities, money laundering, account withholding resulting from criminal prosecutions in mixed capital ventures, the crime of acts detrimental to the economic activity or contract, prosecution in the absence of foreign partners, the confiscation of properties and the recovery of assets, economic jurisdiction as a form of conflict resolution, the results of conflict resolution, compliance with it and issues related to accounts receivable and payable and their impact on state credibility.

As can be appreciated, nothing will be any easier in the future, but there are many reasons and arguments for continuing.

We shall continue struggling tirelessly, by any means necessary, against all forms of corrupt behavior in the country, be it committed by foreigners or Cubans. We will continue improving our systems of prevention, control and response, but we will never renounce the defense of the principles of integrity and dignity. This is our duty.

To those who would call us dreamers, we quote the words of José Martí, Cuba's national hero when he said: "A true man does not seek the path where advantage lies, but rather the path where duty lies, and this is the only practical man, whose dream of today will be the law of tomorrow, because he who has looked back on the essential course of history and has seen burning and bleeding peoples seethe in the cauldron of the ages knows that, without a single exception, the future lies on the side of duty."