Cuba Parliamentarians Continue to Debate Draft Constitution

The text is being studied in Parliament after a wide-ranging exercise in popular consultation which resulted in 780 000 new proposals, including 2 125 received from Cubans living abroad

The deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power are debating this Thursday, divided into three groups, the proposed
Constitution, prior to the Second Ordinary Period of Sessions of the organ, in its IX Legislature, to take place on Friday, when the constitutional text will be analyzed and finally approved so that it returns to the people, who must pronounce on the matter in a referendum.

Granma newspaper informs that during this Wednesday, the deputies dedicated themselves to the individual study of the document in each one of the ten standing commissions.

Also, eight new deputies, recently elected in seven municipalities, took office in a ceremony attended by the other parliamentarians headed by Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Ana Maria Mari Machado and Miriam Brito Sarroca, president, vice president and secretary of the National Assembly, respectively.

Lazo welcomed them to the Cuban Parliament and expressed his confidence that they will be faithful to the oath they have taken.

The proposed Constitution reaches parliamentarians after a wide-ranging exercise in popular consultation, which involved 133,681 meetings, more than one million interventions and 780,000 proposals. The 2,125 proposals received from Cubans living abroad were also evaluated.

Homero Acosta, secretary of the Council of State, on behalf of the
commission of deputies created to work on Constitutional Reform —and chaired by the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz— will give details in Friday’s plenary session on the final version presented to the Assembly, for the elaboration of which all the opinions expressed by the people were taken into account.