The Legal System Of Cuba

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Main Discussion
Legal System
Cuba had a rapidly changing law system starting in 1959 and settling into the current law traditions around the 1990 's with the dissolving of the Soviet Union, one of its strongest allies. Cuba follows a civil law tradition, in which the laws that must be followed are from already established codes. Garcia, Iran and Maria Olivas. (N.d). Cuba also has an "inquisitorial system" that it follows for criminal procedure that shares similarities to other nations such as France and Spain. The courts in Cuba also has a separation on the criminal courts and the prosecutors.
WORK ON
Police
The police force is under the direction of the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of the Interior is a part of the Council of Ministers. The Ministry of the Interior is split into 3 different sections that oversee different defense groups in the Cuban government. These 3 sub-offices include Security, Internal Order and Crime Prevention, and Technical Operations. The Security office is in charge of highly particular crimes that involve crimes against the government themselves, such as treason and espionage. The Internal Order and Crime Prevention office can also be separated into 3 different offices and is what handles the Cuban police force, along with the prison system and firefighters.
Cuban citizens over the age of 16 are required by law to sign up for either armed forces duty or police duty, which they have no control on which one they are assigned to. The National Revolutionary Police is the police force that handles common crimes not involved with the Security office, in the Ministry of the Interior, who handles crimes against the state. The National Revolutionary Police are involved in "criminal investig...

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...e or bring to trial the suspect before 96 hours". This also requires a lawyer be given to the defendant before a maximum of 7 days is reached.
A common problem of the police force is the arrest of individuals with no real suspicion or actively trying to send the individual to court. This is also a tactic used for protestors for the upholding of human rights. This unnecessary arrest is also usually used against individuals targeted by the government or by certain police officers with grudges. While The Law of Penal Procedures give guidelines in the receiving of a lawyer and a maximum number of days in jail, many police officers abuse the Cuban constitutions stance on non-socialist minded individuals. This part of the Cuban constitution lets the police strip all civil rights of an individual if they are believed to be impeding on the government 's socialistic ideals.

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