Cuba opens to private enrichment, without "communist society"

Havana – Cuba debates a new Constitution that will allow private enrichment in a socialist economy, leaving aside the "communist society" and paving the way for new rights for citizens.
  

Since Saturday, the National Assembly has been weighing the draft new Basic Law, which should be submitted to the vote by Monday at the latest, before being submitted to a national referendum.

" Has the Cuban socialist model changed? It has not changed in principle.The fundamental concepts of our socialism are there (…) The role of the Communist Party, of the state economy, socialist property, remain intact, but yes, we must proceed to a transformation "said Homero Acosta, secretary of the State Council (government, ed), explaining the changes proposed.

The 1976 Constitution, which will be amended, establishes in its article 5 that the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), a single party, " organizes and directs common efforts towards the eminent goals of the construction of socialism and socialism. the march towards communist society ".

In the new project, the reference to " Communist Society " will disappear.

" There is no doubt that we must make adjustments, and this is the result of this project, because society has changed, the economy has changed, and this must be reflected in the constitution "said Homero Acosta, who stood next to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the presidential table.

In the hall, his predecessor Raul Castro participated in the session as a member of the National Assembly. First Secretary of the CCP, he co-directs the commission for constitutional reform with Miguel Díaz-Canel.

-Private Property –

Cuban legislation recognizes the market, private property and foreign investment as part of the economy for a decade or so.

" The recognition of private property is an opening to foreign investment but, fundamentally, it is an ideological opening internally.This is to think the Cuban economy as a mixed economy, with possible integrations between different sectors and the private sector ", explained to AFP the Cuban political badyst Arturo Lopez-Levy, professor at the American University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

The economic reforms initiated in 2008 by Raul Castro aim to achieve a model country " independent, sovereign, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable ", according to their formulation.

Currently, the Cuban private sector has some 591,000 people who provide 13% of the national GDP.

" The role of the market can not be ignored (…) Ownership, as a result of the adjustments of our economic and social model, exists ," said Homero Acosta, adding that this could pave the way for the legal recognition of small and medium enterprises.

Without renouncing the " regulatory capacity of direction and control of the state ," he added, recognizing that this investment will pave the way for wealth generation.

" It is not wealth, which is related to prosperity, which must be limited, but the concentration (of wealth) ," he said.

According to him, the new laws to come will allow citizens to obtain only one authorization to open a business.

– Unibad Couples –

The Constitution will also set the stage for same-bad couples, an important demand of the LGBT community, of which Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela, is one of the leaders.

In its article 68, the constitutional project defines the couple as the concerted union " between two persons (…) and does not say what bad ," said Homero Acosta, thus changing the current Basic Law which defines the couple as " the voluntary and concerted union of a man and a woman ".

" It is an act of justice which reinforces these principles of humanism, of equity and which (seeks to) avoid this discrimination which, for various reasons, has raged for a long time ", added Acosta, pointing out that the new Constitution " could not avoid this question ", on which the Assembly will have to legislate.

-Prime Minister –

The new Constitution will also introduce the office of President of the Republic – unlike the current President of the Council of State and Ministers – and create that of Prime Minister.

It will limit to 60 years the age to be candidate for the presidency, and this for a term of five years, with possibility of a second mandate in the wake.

Fidel and Raul Castro, the two predecessors of Miguel Diaz-Canel, himself 58 years old, left the octogenarian power.

" In the context of the Latin American left, the limitation of the presidential term has repercussions, because when radical leaders in Nicaragua, Venezuela or Bolivia opt for a questionable indefinite re-election, and in China , President Xi Jinping is also trying to survive, Cuba appears as against this trend "said Professor Lopez-Levy.