Gary Asteak will visit, observe the country next week as part of People
to People Ambassadors program.
By Matt Assad, of The
Morning Call. 01/17/01
Sporting a ponytail and cowboy boots, one of Northampton County's most
flamboyant lawyers will step onto Communist soil in the hope of better
understanding a foreign justice system that surely would not have him as a
member.
Gary N. Asteak will be part of a national convocation of legal professionals
meeting in Cuba next week with lawyers, judges and prison wardens who work in
one of the world's last communist systems.
It's not clear what kind of culture shock will ensue when Asteak, who last
month helped free a man from state prison by getting a judge to throw out
illegally seized drug evidence, arrives in a country where suspects are presumed
guilty.
The trip, planned by the People to People Ambassadors Program, was made
possible by President Clinton's decision last year to permit some travel by
Americans to Cuba.
The Ambassadors Program has been scheduling exchange programs for more than
four decades, but only recently has been able to tread on Cuban soil.
"No one is going there with delusions of changing the way they live,"
Asteak said. "We just want to learn a little bit about how they do things
and maybe give them a little glimpse of how a system based on civil rights
works."
The Ambassadors Program was started by President Eisenhower in 1956 as an
exchange program with professionals from other countries.
As a communist leaders buff who has visited the mausoleums of Lenin, Mao
Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh, Asteak could not resist adding to the list Ernesto "Che"
Guevara, the revolutionary icon who helped lift Fidel Castro to power.
"I'm absolutely fascinated with Cuba," Asteak said. "I'm
fascinated with the '50s era when it was known for its casinos, nightclubs and
organized crime, and the revolution that took place later."
Since Clinton loosened the reigns on American groups traveling to Cuba last
year, People to People has been on an exchange program blitz that included its
first-ever justice professional exchange with Cuba in November.
Asteak's group of about 50 will be its second, when it embarks on a one-week
trip beginning Sunday.
The group is scheduled to meet with judges and prosecutors and to visit at
least one Cuban prison, but Asteak said that what the ambassadors will be
allowed to do will be dictated by how much the government allows.
"We're told they wax hot and cold, as far as access goes," Asteak
said. "But even if access is denied, and I end up on a beachfront veranda,
drinking mojito and smoking a Cohiba, that's not such a bad deal."
In recent years, Asteak has become known for his amusing holiday postcards
that have nothing to do with Christmas, but often depict a photo of him in a
strange place or a far-off land such as Timbuktu.
He already smells next year's card.
"I know it's not likely, but I'd love to meet Castro," Asteak
said. "He's so much more interesting than Bill Clinton."
Reporter Matt Assad
610-559-2149
matthew.assad@mcall.com
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