http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/0...p.ap/index.html

Cuban politician gets 12 years for influence-peddling

Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Posted: 11:12 a.m. EDT (15:12 GMT)

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- A Communist official long held up as an example of Cuba's future leadership was sentenced to 12 years in prison for influence-peddling, the party said Wednesday.

Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, among the youngest members of the ruling Politburo before being kicked out of the elite body and the party in April, pleaded guilty Friday during a trial in Havana, the official Granma newspaper said. Government prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence.

"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," Granma said.

It offered no specifics on what benefits were obtained or how Robinson used his influence to get them.

Cuban officials had once pointed with pride to Robinson as an example of the island's young black leadership.

Robinson, 49, is from the eastern city of Santiago -- Cuba's second-largest city -- and had been the party's first secretary for the Santiago province since 1994.

But in April, the Politburo announced that Robinson was expelled from the party for repeatedly failing to overcome "errors" such as abuse of authority and arrogance.

At the time, the party leadership said Robinson had become "a lamentable and unusual case of the inability of a political cadre to overcome his errors."

Cuba is striving to build up its younger leadership eventually to take over for the original revolutionary leaders, many of whom are now in their 70s. President Fidel Castro will turn 80 in August, and his brother and constitutionally designated successor, Defense Minister Raul Castro is 75.

"Criticized, warned and exhorted more than once by the [party leadership] to overcome his failings, he pretended to recognize them and end them," the Politburo said then. "But that wasn't what happened."

The party leadership indicated Wednesday that Robinson should serve as an example, warning that "in our country, no one, despite their responsibilities and merits, can violate the law. He who does so will inexorably receive the weight of revolutionary justice."

http://www.obras-del-alma.com

Kuba: Gefängnisstrafe für ranghohen Funktionär

Havanna. SDA/AFP/baz. Erstmals seit Jahren ist in Kuba ein ranghoher Vertreter der kommunistischen Partei vor Gericht gestellt und verurteilt worden. Das Politbüromitglied Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte muss wegen «passiver Bestechung» für zwölf Jahre hinter Gitter.

Er habe seinen Einfluss benutzt, um Vorteile daraus zu ziehen, und seine Funktionen missbraucht, hiess es in einer Erklärung des Politbüros, die am Mittwoch im Parteiorgan «Granma» erschien. Was Agramonte konkret vorgeworfen wurde, blieb unklar.

Bereits Ende April war der 49-Jährige aus der Partei ausgeschlossen waren. Damals hiess es, er habe trotz wiederholter Aufforderungen sein Verhalten der «Allmächtigkeit, Arroganz und Indiskretion sowie des Machtmissbrauchs und der Aufweichung der moralischen Prinzipien» beibehalten.

Im vergangenen November hatte Präsident Fidel Castro zum Kampf gegen die Korruption aufgerufen. Robinson Agramonte war 1982 in die Kommunistische Partei eingetreten und wurde 1993 zum Ersten Sekretär der Provinz Guantánamo ernannt. Das Politbüro hat 23 Mitglieder.

Es war das erste Mal seit 2002 , das ein so ranghohes Parteimitglied öffentlich mit einer Strafe belegt wird. Damals wurde der frühere Aussenminister Roberto Robaina aus dem Politbüro ausgeschlossen.

Ins Gefängnis wurde jedoch zuletzt ...
http://www.baz.ch/news/index.cfm?keyID=D...00FBEAAEA1D3C4D

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