Cuba: Parliament approves draft new constitution

The Cuban Parliament on Sunday adopted the draft new constitution, which recognizes the market and property as part of its economy, without abandoning its socialist orientation.

The new constitutional text was approved unanimously at a regular session of the National Assembly. The project must now be the subject of a popular debate, from August 13 to November 15. A referendum will then be held before final adoption.

"We are facing a project that will contribute, after the popular consultation and the referendum, to strengthen the unity of Cubans around the revolution," said President Miguel Diaz-Canel, at the end of the session two-day parliamentarian.

million. Diaz-Canel, who succeeded to power to Raul Castro on April 19, stressed that, during the consultation, "every Cuban will be able to freely express his opinions and contribute to a constitutional text that reflects the present and the future of the homeland ".

The project, of 224 articles, reaffirms the "socialist character" of the Cuban political system as well as the leading role of the single-party Communist Party.

The text invariably maintains its economic foundations: "The socialist property of all the people and the planning of the economy".

However, the reference to the future "communist society" is removed from the new fundamental text.

After four decades of a state economy in almost all, the reforms of Raul Castro stimulated private entrepreneurship, which now employs 591,000 people, according to official figures, ie 13% of the active population.

The project lays the foundations for the integration of different economic actors, recognizing the role of the market in the economy of the island , foreign investment and other forms of ownership, including private ownership. This could allow the legalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.

At the institutional level, the future constitution restores the title of President of the Republic and that of Prime Minister.

Moreover, unlike the constitution of 1976, the new Basic Law defines marriage as the union between two people, without specifying bad, legally opening the way to same-bad marriage, a major demand of the Cuban LGBT community.

afp