On February 24, 2019, 43 years since the 1976 Constitution was approved, millions of Cubans, representing 90.15 % of the population, participated in the final part of the process by voting on a new Constitution (Magna Carta). The result was a massive YES in favor of the new Constitution with 86.85% approving it.
The updated Constitution ratifies the irrevocable character of socialism in Cuba and includes protections of private property and foreign investments among the 134 articles modifying the 1976 Constitution. The updated document incorporated consultations and input of Cuban citizens through thousands of meetings and debates in communities, workplaces, etc. that took place over a 3 month period following the initial approval of the proposed Constitution by the National Assembly.
President Diaz Canel declared that: “we will say with our vote: Yes to the Revolution, to the sovereignty and independence of the homeland, to unity. Yes for socialism and for the commitment to our heroes and martyrs over more than 150 years of struggles for freedom.” He also said that a yes vote was a “mobilization for peace and against imperial intervention in Latin America.”
We congratulate the people of Cuba both on their conscientious attention to the process of drafting the new Constitution and to their massive support for their Constitution and their Socialism despite the unrelenting economic, commercial and financial blockade and propaganda campaign directed at them from the United States.
This vote provides an important opportunity for people in the United States to learn from Cuban elections. There were no charges of voter fraud, voter disenfranchisement, closed polling sites, outside interference, purging of voting rolls, etc. in this or any other Cuban election. Compare the 90% participation in Cuba’s elections with turnout in any U.S. election. Compare the access to candidates, ability to influence the issues, respectful inclusion of all sectors of society in the process. In all these areas, Cuba’s process is far more advanced and inclusive than the so-called “democracy” we have in the United States. It is not only in health, education, disaster preparedness, and other areas that Cuba excels. Cuban democracy is yet another aspect of their socialism to be praised and emulated.
