By: Daniel Nardini

Cuba’s National Assembly is now considering a draft document that may become the country’s next constitution. Four major provisions in this document stand out. First, the document will not speak about building Communism but rather strengthening socialism. Second, the Communist Party of Cuba will remain the governing party of the country. Third, it will remove the terms of marriage between a man and a woman (a concession to the gay and lesbian community), and finally it will allow private property. It is clearly obvious that the old Soviet-style wording is being ditched in favor of something that would more fit into the 21st Century. How socialism will benefit Cuba is highly questionable given it has not done anything for the people since the Cuban Revolution of 1959. As for a clause to establish private property…….that remains to be seen. In a capitalist democracy there is no question that private property has been and remains one of the hallmarks of the system. The legal protections of private property and the rights of the owner to private property are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. How this will play out in a country where socialism has been and remains the goal of the Communist Party of Cuba is too bizarre to think about.

Finally, the Communist Party of Cuba is itself the problem. It has established itself in the governmental, legal and social framework of the country. More than that, it allows NO other political party to exist in Cuba. Without any competition, how can there be far-reaching reforms that will protect the legal and political rights of the people? Since there is no other legal party or organization allowed to exist in Cuba, there can be no real questioning how to bring about changes or challenges to what may be wrong with the whole political process. Since the Communist Party of Cuba owns all of the country’s news media, then clearly no one can voice a contrary opinion. More than that, the Communist Party of Cuba can tell its people whatever it wants to keep them in the dark and give them no other options. Essentially the news media in Cuba is nothing more than propaganda, and has little to no truth in it. Considering all this, how can there be any real change in Cuba? And because the Communist Party of Cuba is still in total control, any “new” constitution will not be worth the paper it is written on. For a new constitution, or any constitution, to work, it must have legal and political teeth to supersede any party, organization or institution that may be in power. For all due purposes, Cuba’s new proposed constitution will be nothing more than another document spelling out the absolute power of the Communist Party of Cuba.