IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 3 ENGLISH | Page 59

Democracy,
Judicial Power
and History*

in Cuba

Wilfredo Vallín
Attorney
Havana. Cuba

T

he triumphant Cuban revolution of 1959
created hope for a better future for all. This
required it to have extraordinary popular
support.
The solution of many wants and conflicts was
held up as a banner to be followed by a countless
number of compatriots who took their demands as
essential goals for the general, public good. One
of the many was the rehabilitation of the Constitution of 1940.
That Constitution had great prestige and popular
support from the moment the Constitutional Assembly ratified it. It would be repealed by a coup
d’etat in 1952 and replaced by a series of Constitutional Statutes.
The 1953 assault on the country’s second most
important barracks by a group of young men that
would be later known as the “Centennial Generation” (referring to the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of Cuban independence apostle José
Martí), and the judgments of them that were later
made, shows clearly that one of its goals was the
restoration of the democracy and constitutionalism that had been ousted by a military coup by
well known individuals.
Thus, the triumphant revolution would serve to
reinstate peace, order, democracy and the 1940
Constitution.

At least, that’s what everyone thought. Yet, the
governing document was never reestablished. On
February 7, 1957, the Revolutionary Tribunals
promulgated the Ley Fundamental (Foundational
Law) in its place.
This called for the death penalty to all political
enemies that challenged the regime with the same
methods and goals that had been used against the
Batista dictatorship.
This was the beginning of a long and tortuous
road that slowly but increasingly took from the
country a legal system that was once the pride and
guarantor of the young nation.
After more than half a century of the same economic, political and social system, it might be important to take a good look at the results.
In our days, in general, Cuban Law reveals a series of incongruent characteristics that has left the
nation in a precarious situation, even though it is
still presented as one of the most advanced and
fair ones in the world.
Let us center our attention on the following important aspects and elements of contemporary
Law in Cuba:
• There are NO Court of Constitutional Guarantees.
• There is NO independent Judiciary.

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