Cuba assembly debating draft constitution
22 July, 2018
A draft of Cuba’s new constitution omits the aim of building communism, recognizes private property and opens the door to gay marriage, in a sign of changing times, although it keeps the Communist Party as the guiding force of the one-party system.
Cuba’s national assembly is this weekend debating a draft of the document to replace its Soviet-era constitution, reflecting political, social and economic changes designed to make its brand of socialism sustainable and implementing new ones too.
Once lawmakers have approved the draft, it will be submitted to a popular consultation.
The final document, which could include changes, will then be put to a national referendum.
The current draft omits a clause in the 1976 constitution on the ultimate aim of building a “communist society,” instead simply focusing on socialism.
“This does not mean we are renouncing our ideas,” the president of the National Assembly Esteban Lazo was quoted as saying by state-run media. Cuba had simply moved into a different era following the fall of the Soviet Union, he said.
“We believe in a socialist, sovereign, independent, prosperous and sustainable country.”
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