Talking about the Supreme Court, let’s look at a little history. On June 15, 2009 the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision to reject the request for review of the case of the Cuban Five. This request for a review was raised by millions of people from all backgrounds around the world, a record number of requests for "Friends of the Court” and thousands of personalities and officials from all continents. Many of these requests came from the United States.

The United States boasts that their political system is based on the separation of powers between the executive (President and Vice President), the legislature and the judiciary, and a resulting system built on checks and balances. Supposedly this is a superior form of democracy based on checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power by one or other of the three branches that make up the United States government. In the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2, states that the President of the United States "... has the power to grant relief and pardons ....." Everything indicates that Obama, far from using these constitutional powers to free the Cuban Five, has made it clear to the judges of the Supreme Court that they must decide against the review.

This has obviously been a political case from the very first day. This is more clearly revealed by the decision of the Supreme Court and the shameful refusal of the judges to explain publicly to the world the basis for their decision. Of course the judges are not required to do so according to the U.S legal system. However, in a case such as this, for which the world and many governments are aware, a public explanation was necessary.

Perhaps we are witnessing one of the greatest ironies in the current international political scene. The Cuban Five are being cruelly and politically punished for their peaceful motivation and counterterrorism activities. The reason? They are acting on behalf of, and supporting, the Cuban government. One of the main accusations brought by the United States against Cuba is the lack of democracy; she does not have, among other things, a political system similar to the U.S, which includes checks and balances.

The Cuban system is in fact a unified system of  revolutionary political power of the people, top-down and bottom-up, including the judiciary, each with its respective field of competence. The relationship and interaction of all the different levels of the Cuban state between each other, including the judiciary, and of all these institutions with the citizens, is a characteristic of the type of democracy in Cuba.

There is no need to go into a debate on whether the Cuban system is more democratic than the U.S. model. However, if one takes into account this latest episode of the Supreme Court of American democracy in action on one hand, and my own experience and studies of the Cuban political system on the other, Cuba has "no lessons in democracy" to receive from the United States.
 
Translated by Daysi Olano

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