In recent weeks Cuba’s communist government has been rolling out a revision to the island’s 1976 Constitution. The regime is now making an unusual outreach for feedback – across the Florida Straits.
Proposed changes to Cuba’s Constitution have been filtering out on state media this summer. Such as: Officially allowing private property. Or the creation of a prime minister to help the president run the government. Or the legalization of gay marriage. (You can read the official draft of constitutional changes here).
Cubans will vote on the revised charter in a referendum later this year. “Referendum” is, of course, a relative term in a communist country: No one really expects anyone but the regime’s leaders to have the final say.
But over the weekend, those leaders broadened that façade of popular input beyond Cuba. They said they want the more than 3 million members of the Cuban diaspora – including Cuban exiles here in South Florida – to chime in. They’re even preparing an online form for logging diaspora opinion on the Minister of Foreign Affairs' website, nacionyemigracion.cu.
That site isn’t likely to be overwhelmed, however. Most Cuban-born Cubans abroad consider the constitutional revision process rigged. And they say the regime has already ruled out the change they want most: allowing multi-party involvement in Cuban politics.
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