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03-06-06,9:23am
“The Bush Administration’s unawareness of the Cuba’s Constitution, its quality of life and the popular support for socialism is quite alarming. They totally ignore our determination and will to defend the rights we have achieved,” said Dr. Eduardo Lara Hernandez, president of the Cuban Society of Constitutional and Administrative Rights.
In his analysis on the 30 years of the current Cuban Constitution, Lara pointed out that “sometimes politicians and intellectuals —due to a lack of knowledge or ill will— slander our political system and try to deny our democracy, the legitimacy of our electoral system, the characteristics of our state, the existence of human rights and even the existence of our Rule of Law. Cuba’s Rule of Law is a political system and a form of democracy different from other countries because it is planned for a different situation and different purposes.”
“Although the Rule of Law has been traditionally associated with the three branches of government, with the multiparty system and with the electoral system of most capitalist nations, there are other countries, such as Cuba, which —considering popular participation as being the most important— have adjusted their laws and electoral procedures to their particular characteristics,” added Lara.
“Sometimes representative democracy is described as pluralistic or multiparty, he explained, because of the separation of powers, the existence of a Rule of Law, and the guarantee of human rights. But they forget that such homogeneity doesn't exist and that it is not really "representative," something widely demonstrated by eminent law theoreticians since even before the nineteenth century. Effective representation is only possible if there is equality and solidarity, and it is unreachable where inequality, avarice and selfishness prevail; where control over mechanisms, relationships and systematic communication between the elected and the electorate does not exist, except for in exceptional situations.”
In Cuba, the Constitution Reform Law was approved on July 26, 2002. It establishes the irrevocable character of socialism and the political and social system. It also highlights that economic, diplomatic and political relationships with other countries cannot be negotiated under aggression, threat or coercion by a foreign power.
Prior to that Reform’s adoption, the Cuban people voted in an open, public process that showed the general support of the public for this law. There were discussions in a host of meetings of mass organizations, as well as public acts and massive marches —on July 2, 2002— in every province of the country; in these, more than nine million people participated. Finally from July 15 to 17, more than eight million people voted for the reform.
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