| CUBA Republic of Cuba Republic de Cuba Joined United Nations: 24 October 1945 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 25 January 2013 |
CHAPTER II
CITIZENSHIP
ARTICLE 28. Cuban citizenship is acquired by birth or through naturalization.
ARTICLE 29. Cuban citizens by birth are:
a) those born in national territory, with the exception of the children of foreign persons at the service of their government or international
organizations. In the case of the children of temporary foreign residents in the country, the law stipulates the requisites and formalities;
b) those born abroad, one of whose parents at least is Cuban and on an official mission;
c) those born abroad, one of whose parents at least is Cuban, who have complied with the formalities stipulated by law;
d) those born outside national territory, one of whose parents at least is Cuban and who lost their Cuban citizenship provide they apply for
said citizenship according to the procedures stated by law;
e) foreigners who, by virtue of their exceptional merits won in the struggles for Cuba’s liberation, were considered Cuban citizens by
birth.
ARTICLE 30. Cuban citizens by naturalization are:
a) those foreigners who acquire Cuban citizenship in accordance with the regulations established by law;
b) those who contributed to the armed struggle against the tyranny overthrown on January 1, 1959, provided they show proof of this in
the legally established form;
c) those who having been arbitrarily deprived of their citizenship of origin, obtain Cuban citizenship by virtue of an express agreement of
the Council of State.
ARTICLE 31. Neither marriage nor its dissolution affect the citizenship status of either of the spouses or their children.
ARTICLE 32. Cubans may not be deprived of their citizenship save for established legal causes. Neither may they be deprived of the right
to change citizenship.
Dual citizenship is not recognized. Therefore, when a foreign citizenship is acquired, the Cuban one will be lost.
Formalization of the loss of citizenship and the authorities empowered to decide on this is prescribed by law.
ARTICLE 33. Cuban citizenship may be regained in those cases and ways specified by law.
CHAPTER III
ALIENS
ARTICLE 34. Foreign residents in the territory of the Republic are equal to Cubans in:
- the safeguarding of persons and property;
- the enjoyment of the rights and the fulfillment of the duties recognized in this Constitution, under the conditions and with the limitations
prescribed by law;
- the obligation to observe the Constitution and the law;
- the obligation to contribute to the public expenditure in the form and amount prescribed by law;
- the submission to the jurisdiction and resolutions of the Republic’s courts of justice and authorities.
The law establishes the cases and the ways in which foreigners may be expelled from national territory and the authorities empowered to
decide on this.
CHAPTER IV
THE FAMILY
ARTICLE 35. The state protects the family, motherhood and matrimony.
The state recognizes the family as the main nucleus of society and attributes to it the important responsibilities and functions in the
education and formation of the new generations.
ARTICLE 36. Marriage is the voluntarily established union between a man and a woman, who are legally fit to marry, in order to live
together. It is based on full equality of rights and duties for the partners, who must see to the support of the home and the integral
education of their children through a joint effort compatible with the social activities of both.
The law regulates the formalization, recognition and dissolution of marriage and the rights and obligations deriving from such acts.
ARTICLE 37. All children have the same rights, regardless of being born in or out of wedlock.
Any qualification concerning the nature of the filiation is abolished.
No statement shall be made either with to the difference in birth or the civil status of the parents in the registration of the children’s birth
or in any other documents that mention parenthood.
The state guarantees, through adequate legal mean, the determination and recognition of paternity.
ARTICLE 38. The parents have the duty to provide nourishment for their children; to help them to defend their legitimate interests and in
the realization of their just aspirations; and to contribute actively to their education and integral development as useful and well-prepared
citizens for life in a socialist society.
It is the children’s duty, in turn, to respect and help their parents.
CHAPTER V
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
ARTICLE 39. The state orients, foments and promotes education, culture and science in all their manifestations.
Its educational and cultural policy is based on the following principles:
a) the state bases its educational and cultural policy on the progress made in science and technology, the ideology of Marx and Martí, and
universal and Cuban progressive pedagogical tradition;
b) education is a function of the state and is free of charge. It is based on the conclusions and contributions made by science and on the
close relationship between study and life, work and production.
The state maintains a broad scholarship system for students and provides the workers with multiple opportunities to study to be able to
attain the highest possible of knowledge and skills.
The law established the integration and structure of the national system of education and the extent of compulsory education and defines
the minimum level of general education that every citizen should acquire;
c) the state promotes the patriotic and communist education of the new generations and the training of children, young people and adults
for social life.
In order to make this principle a reality, general education and specialized scientific, technical or artistic education are combined with
work, development research, physical education, sports, participation in political and social activities and military training;
d) there is freedom of artistic creation as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution. There is freedom of artistic expression;
e) in order to raise the level of culture of the people, the state foments and develops artistic education, the vocation for creation and the
cultivation and appreciation of art;
f) there is freedom of creation and research in science. The state encourages and facilitates research and gives priority to that which is
aimed at solving the problems related to the interests of society and the well-being of the people;
g) the state makes it possible for the workers to engage in scientific work and to contribute to the development of science;
h) the state promotes, foments and develops all forms of physical education and sports as a means of education and of contribution to the
integral development of citizens;
i) the state defends Cuban culture’s identity and sees to the conservation of the nation’s cultural heritage and artistic and historic wealth.
The state protects national monuments and places known for their natural beauty or their artistic or historic values;
j) the state promotes the participation of the citizens, through the country’s social and mass organizations, in the development of its
educational and cultural policy.
ARTICLE 40. The state and society give special protection to children and young people.
It is the duty of the family, the schools, the state agencies and the social and mass organizations to pay special attention to the integral
development of children and young people.
CHAPTER VI
EQUALITY
ARTICLE 41. All citizens have equal rights and are subject to equal duties.
ARTICLE 42. Discrimination because of race, skin color, sex, national origin, religious beliefs and any other form of discrimination
harmful to human dignity is forbidden and will be punished by law.
The institutions of the state educate everyone from the earliest possible age in the principle of equality among human beings.
ARTICLE 43. The state consecrates the right achieved by the Revolution that all citizens, regardless of race, skin color, sex, religious
belief, national origin and any situation that may be harmful to human dignity:
- have access, in keeping with their merits and abilities, to all state, public administration, and production services positions and jobs;
- can reach any rank in the Revolutionary Armed Forces and in Security and internal order, in keeping with their merits and abilities;
- be given equal pay for equal work;
- have a right to education at all national educational institutions, ranging from elementary schools to the universities, which are the same
for all;
- be given health care in all medical institutions;
- live in any sector, zone or area and stay in any hotel;
- be served at all restaurants and other public service establishments;
- use, without any separations, all means of transportation by sea, land and air;
- enjoy the same resorts, beaches, parks, social centers and other centers of culture, sports, recreation and rest.
ARTICLE 44. Women and men have the same rights in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family.
The state guarantees women the same opportunities and possibilities as men, in order to achieve woman’s full participation in the
development of the country.
The state organizes such institutions as children’s day-care centers, semi-boarding schools and boarding schools, homes for the elderly
and services to make it easier for the working family to carry out its responsibilities.
The state looks after women’s health as well as that of their offspring, giving working women paid maternity leave before and after giving
birth and temporary work options compatible with their maternal activities.
The state strives to create all the conditions which help make real the principle of equality.
CHAPTER VII
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, DUTIES AND GUARANTEES
ARTICLE 45. Work in a socialist society is a right and duty and a source of pride for every citizen.
Work is remunerated according to its quality and quantity; when it is provided, the needs of the economy and of society, the choice of
worker and his skills and ability are taken into account; this is guaranteed by the socialist economic system, that facilitates social and
economic development, without crises, and has thus eliminated unemployment and the "dead season."
Nonpaid, voluntary work carried out for the benefit of all society in industrial, agricultural, technical, artistic and service activities is
recognized as playing an important role in the formation of our people’s communist awareness.
Every worker has the duty to faithfully carry tasks corresponding to him at his job.
ARTICLE 46. All those who work have the right to rest, which is guaranteed by the eight-hour workday, a weekly rest period and annual
paid vacations.
The state contributes to the development of vacation plans and facilities.
ARTICLE 47. By means of the Social Security System the state assures adequate protection to every worker who is unable to work
because of age, illness or disability.
If the worker dies this protection will be extended to his family.
ARTICLE 48. The state protects, by means of social assistance, senior citizens lacking financial resources or anyone to take them in or
care for them, and anyone who is unable to work and has no relatives who can help them.
ARTICLE 49. The state guarantees the right to protection, safety and hygiene on the job by means of the adoption of adequate measures
for the prevention of accidents at work and occupational diseases.
Anyone who suffers an accident on the job or is affected by an occupational disease has the right to medical care and to compensation or
retirement in those cases in which temporary or permanent work disability ensues.
ARTICLE 50. Everyone has the right to health protection and care. The state guarantees this right;
- by providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals,
preventative and specialized treatment centers;
- by providing free dental care;
- by promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccinations and other measures to
prevent the outbreak of disease. All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations.
ARTICLE 51. Everyone has the right to education. This right is guaranteed by the free and widespread system of schools, semi-boarding
and boarding schools and scholarships of all kinds and at all levels of education and because of the fact that all educational material is
provided free of charge, which gives all children and young people, regardless of their family’s economic position, the opportunity to
study in keeping with their ability, social demands and the needs of socioeconomic development.
Adults are also guaranteed this right; education for them is free of charge and with the specific facilities regulated by law, by means of the
adult education program, technical and vocational education, training courses in state agencies and enterprises and the advanced courses
for workers.
ARTICLE 52. Everyone has the right to physical education, sports and recreation.
Enjoyment of this right is assured by including the teaching and practice of physical education and sports in the curricula of the national
educational system; and by the broad nature of the instruction and means placed at the service of the people, which makes possible the
practice of sports and recreation on a mass basis.
ARTICLE 53. Citizens have freedom of speech and of the press in keeping with the objectives of socialist society. Material conditions for
the exercise of that right are provided by the fact that the press, radio, television, cinema, and other mass media are state or social
property and can never be private property. This assures their use at exclusive service of the working people and in the interests of
society.
The law regulated the exercise of those freedoms.
ARTICLE 54. The rights to assembly, demonstration and association are exercised by workers, both manual and intellectual, peasants,
women, students and other sectors of the working people, and they have the necessary means for this. The social and mass organizations
have all the facilities they need to carry out those activities in which the members have full freedom of speech and opinion based on the
unlimited right of initiative and criticism.
ARTICLE 55. The state, which recognizes, respects and guarantees freedom of conscience and of religion, also recognizes, respects and
guarantees every citizen’s freedom to change religious beliefs or to not have any, and to profess, within the framework of respect for the
law, the religious belief of his preference.
The law regulates the state’s relations with religious institutions.
ARTICLE 56. The home is inviolable. Nobody can enter the home of another against his will, except in those cases foreseen by law.
ARTICLE 57. Mail is inviolable. It can only be seized, opened and examined in cases prescribed by law. Secrecy is maintained on matters
other than those which led to the examination.
The same principle is to be applied in the case of cable, telegraph and telephone communications.
ARTICLE 58. Freedom and inviolability of persons is assured to all those who live in the country.
Nobody can be arrested, except in the manner, with the guarantees and in the cases indicated by law.
The persons who has been arrested or the prisoner is inviolable in his personal integrity.
ARTICLE 59. Nobody can be tried or sentenced except by the competent court by virtue of laws which existed prior to the crime and
with the formalities and guarantees that the laws establish.
Every accused person has the right to a defense.
No violence or pressure of any kind can be used against people to force them to testify,
All statements obtained in violation of the above precept are null and void and those responsible for the violation will be punished as
outlined by law.
ARTICLE 60. Confiscation of property is only applied as a punishment by the authorities in the cases and by the methods determined by
law.
ARTICLE 61. Penal laws are retroactive when they benefit the accused or person who has been sentenced. Other laws are not retroactive
unless the contrary is decided for reasons of social interest or because it is useful for public purposes.
ARTICLE 62. None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to what is established in the Constitution
and by law, or contrary to the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build
socialism and communism. Violations of this principle can be punished by law.
ARTICLE 63. Every citizen has the right to file complaints with and send petitions to the authorities and to be given the pertinent response
or attention within a reasonable length of time, in keeping with the law.
ARTICLE 64. Every citizen has the duty of caring for public and social property, observing work discipline, respecting the rights of
others, observing standards of socialist living and fulfilling civic and social duties.
ARTICLE 65. Defense of the socialist homeland is the greatest honor and the supreme duty of every Cuban citizen.
The law regulates the military service which Cubans must do.
Treason against one’s country is the most serious of crimes; those who commit it are subject to the most severe penalties.
ARTICLE 66. Strict fulfillment of the Constitution and the laws is an inexcusable duty of all.
CITIZENSHIP
ARTICLE 28. Cuban citizenship is acquired by birth or through naturalization.
ARTICLE 29. Cuban citizens by birth are:
a) those born in national territory, with the exception of the children of foreign persons at the service of their government or international
organizations. In the case of the children of temporary foreign residents in the country, the law stipulates the requisites and formalities;
b) those born abroad, one of whose parents at least is Cuban and on an official mission;
c) those born abroad, one of whose parents at least is Cuban, who have complied with the formalities stipulated by law;
d) those born outside national territory, one of whose parents at least is Cuban and who lost their Cuban citizenship provide they apply for
said citizenship according to the procedures stated by law;
e) foreigners who, by virtue of their exceptional merits won in the struggles for Cuba’s liberation, were considered Cuban citizens by
birth.
ARTICLE 30. Cuban citizens by naturalization are:
a) those foreigners who acquire Cuban citizenship in accordance with the regulations established by law;
b) those who contributed to the armed struggle against the tyranny overthrown on January 1, 1959, provided they show proof of this in
the legally established form;
c) those who having been arbitrarily deprived of their citizenship of origin, obtain Cuban citizenship by virtue of an express agreement of
the Council of State.
ARTICLE 31. Neither marriage nor its dissolution affect the citizenship status of either of the spouses or their children.
ARTICLE 32. Cubans may not be deprived of their citizenship save for established legal causes. Neither may they be deprived of the right
to change citizenship.
Dual citizenship is not recognized. Therefore, when a foreign citizenship is acquired, the Cuban one will be lost.
Formalization of the loss of citizenship and the authorities empowered to decide on this is prescribed by law.
ARTICLE 33. Cuban citizenship may be regained in those cases and ways specified by law.
CHAPTER III
ALIENS
ARTICLE 34. Foreign residents in the territory of the Republic are equal to Cubans in:
- the safeguarding of persons and property;
- the enjoyment of the rights and the fulfillment of the duties recognized in this Constitution, under the conditions and with the limitations
prescribed by law;
- the obligation to observe the Constitution and the law;
- the obligation to contribute to the public expenditure in the form and amount prescribed by law;
- the submission to the jurisdiction and resolutions of the Republic’s courts of justice and authorities.
The law establishes the cases and the ways in which foreigners may be expelled from national territory and the authorities empowered to
decide on this.
CHAPTER IV
THE FAMILY
ARTICLE 35. The state protects the family, motherhood and matrimony.
The state recognizes the family as the main nucleus of society and attributes to it the important responsibilities and functions in the
education and formation of the new generations.
ARTICLE 36. Marriage is the voluntarily established union between a man and a woman, who are legally fit to marry, in order to live
together. It is based on full equality of rights and duties for the partners, who must see to the support of the home and the integral
education of their children through a joint effort compatible with the social activities of both.
The law regulates the formalization, recognition and dissolution of marriage and the rights and obligations deriving from such acts.
ARTICLE 37. All children have the same rights, regardless of being born in or out of wedlock.
Any qualification concerning the nature of the filiation is abolished.
No statement shall be made either with to the difference in birth or the civil status of the parents in the registration of the children’s birth
or in any other documents that mention parenthood.
The state guarantees, through adequate legal mean, the determination and recognition of paternity.
ARTICLE 38. The parents have the duty to provide nourishment for their children; to help them to defend their legitimate interests and in
the realization of their just aspirations; and to contribute actively to their education and integral development as useful and well-prepared
citizens for life in a socialist society.
It is the children’s duty, in turn, to respect and help their parents.
CHAPTER V
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
ARTICLE 39. The state orients, foments and promotes education, culture and science in all their manifestations.
Its educational and cultural policy is based on the following principles:
a) the state bases its educational and cultural policy on the progress made in science and technology, the ideology of Marx and Martí, and
universal and Cuban progressive pedagogical tradition;
b) education is a function of the state and is free of charge. It is based on the conclusions and contributions made by science and on the
close relationship between study and life, work and production.
The state maintains a broad scholarship system for students and provides the workers with multiple opportunities to study to be able to
attain the highest possible of knowledge and skills.
The law established the integration and structure of the national system of education and the extent of compulsory education and defines
the minimum level of general education that every citizen should acquire;
c) the state promotes the patriotic and communist education of the new generations and the training of children, young people and adults
for social life.
In order to make this principle a reality, general education and specialized scientific, technical or artistic education are combined with
work, development research, physical education, sports, participation in political and social activities and military training;
d) there is freedom of artistic creation as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution. There is freedom of artistic expression;
e) in order to raise the level of culture of the people, the state foments and develops artistic education, the vocation for creation and the
cultivation and appreciation of art;
f) there is freedom of creation and research in science. The state encourages and facilitates research and gives priority to that which is
aimed at solving the problems related to the interests of society and the well-being of the people;
g) the state makes it possible for the workers to engage in scientific work and to contribute to the development of science;
h) the state promotes, foments and develops all forms of physical education and sports as a means of education and of contribution to the
integral development of citizens;
i) the state defends Cuban culture’s identity and sees to the conservation of the nation’s cultural heritage and artistic and historic wealth.
The state protects national monuments and places known for their natural beauty or their artistic or historic values;
j) the state promotes the participation of the citizens, through the country’s social and mass organizations, in the development of its
educational and cultural policy.
ARTICLE 40. The state and society give special protection to children and young people.
It is the duty of the family, the schools, the state agencies and the social and mass organizations to pay special attention to the integral
development of children and young people.
CHAPTER VI
EQUALITY
ARTICLE 41. All citizens have equal rights and are subject to equal duties.
ARTICLE 42. Discrimination because of race, skin color, sex, national origin, religious beliefs and any other form of discrimination
harmful to human dignity is forbidden and will be punished by law.
The institutions of the state educate everyone from the earliest possible age in the principle of equality among human beings.
ARTICLE 43. The state consecrates the right achieved by the Revolution that all citizens, regardless of race, skin color, sex, religious
belief, national origin and any situation that may be harmful to human dignity:
- have access, in keeping with their merits and abilities, to all state, public administration, and production services positions and jobs;
- can reach any rank in the Revolutionary Armed Forces and in Security and internal order, in keeping with their merits and abilities;
- be given equal pay for equal work;
- have a right to education at all national educational institutions, ranging from elementary schools to the universities, which are the same
for all;
- be given health care in all medical institutions;
- live in any sector, zone or area and stay in any hotel;
- be served at all restaurants and other public service establishments;
- use, without any separations, all means of transportation by sea, land and air;
- enjoy the same resorts, beaches, parks, social centers and other centers of culture, sports, recreation and rest.
ARTICLE 44. Women and men have the same rights in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family.
The state guarantees women the same opportunities and possibilities as men, in order to achieve woman’s full participation in the
development of the country.
The state organizes such institutions as children’s day-care centers, semi-boarding schools and boarding schools, homes for the elderly
and services to make it easier for the working family to carry out its responsibilities.
The state looks after women’s health as well as that of their offspring, giving working women paid maternity leave before and after giving
birth and temporary work options compatible with their maternal activities.
The state strives to create all the conditions which help make real the principle of equality.
CHAPTER VII
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, DUTIES AND GUARANTEES
ARTICLE 45. Work in a socialist society is a right and duty and a source of pride for every citizen.
Work is remunerated according to its quality and quantity; when it is provided, the needs of the economy and of society, the choice of
worker and his skills and ability are taken into account; this is guaranteed by the socialist economic system, that facilitates social and
economic development, without crises, and has thus eliminated unemployment and the "dead season."
Nonpaid, voluntary work carried out for the benefit of all society in industrial, agricultural, technical, artistic and service activities is
recognized as playing an important role in the formation of our people’s communist awareness.
Every worker has the duty to faithfully carry tasks corresponding to him at his job.
ARTICLE 46. All those who work have the right to rest, which is guaranteed by the eight-hour workday, a weekly rest period and annual
paid vacations.
The state contributes to the development of vacation plans and facilities.
ARTICLE 47. By means of the Social Security System the state assures adequate protection to every worker who is unable to work
because of age, illness or disability.
If the worker dies this protection will be extended to his family.
ARTICLE 48. The state protects, by means of social assistance, senior citizens lacking financial resources or anyone to take them in or
care for them, and anyone who is unable to work and has no relatives who can help them.
ARTICLE 49. The state guarantees the right to protection, safety and hygiene on the job by means of the adoption of adequate measures
for the prevention of accidents at work and occupational diseases.
Anyone who suffers an accident on the job or is affected by an occupational disease has the right to medical care and to compensation or
retirement in those cases in which temporary or permanent work disability ensues.
ARTICLE 50. Everyone has the right to health protection and care. The state guarantees this right;
- by providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals,
preventative and specialized treatment centers;
- by providing free dental care;
- by promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccinations and other measures to
prevent the outbreak of disease. All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations.
ARTICLE 51. Everyone has the right to education. This right is guaranteed by the free and widespread system of schools, semi-boarding
and boarding schools and scholarships of all kinds and at all levels of education and because of the fact that all educational material is
provided free of charge, which gives all children and young people, regardless of their family’s economic position, the opportunity to
study in keeping with their ability, social demands and the needs of socioeconomic development.
Adults are also guaranteed this right; education for them is free of charge and with the specific facilities regulated by law, by means of the
adult education program, technical and vocational education, training courses in state agencies and enterprises and the advanced courses
for workers.
ARTICLE 52. Everyone has the right to physical education, sports and recreation.
Enjoyment of this right is assured by including the teaching and practice of physical education and sports in the curricula of the national
educational system; and by the broad nature of the instruction and means placed at the service of the people, which makes possible the
practice of sports and recreation on a mass basis.
ARTICLE 53. Citizens have freedom of speech and of the press in keeping with the objectives of socialist society. Material conditions for
the exercise of that right are provided by the fact that the press, radio, television, cinema, and other mass media are state or social
property and can never be private property. This assures their use at exclusive service of the working people and in the interests of
society.
The law regulated the exercise of those freedoms.
ARTICLE 54. The rights to assembly, demonstration and association are exercised by workers, both manual and intellectual, peasants,
women, students and other sectors of the working people, and they have the necessary means for this. The social and mass organizations
have all the facilities they need to carry out those activities in which the members have full freedom of speech and opinion based on the
unlimited right of initiative and criticism.
ARTICLE 55. The state, which recognizes, respects and guarantees freedom of conscience and of religion, also recognizes, respects and
guarantees every citizen’s freedom to change religious beliefs or to not have any, and to profess, within the framework of respect for the
law, the religious belief of his preference.
The law regulates the state’s relations with religious institutions.
ARTICLE 56. The home is inviolable. Nobody can enter the home of another against his will, except in those cases foreseen by law.
ARTICLE 57. Mail is inviolable. It can only be seized, opened and examined in cases prescribed by law. Secrecy is maintained on matters
other than those which led to the examination.
The same principle is to be applied in the case of cable, telegraph and telephone communications.
ARTICLE 58. Freedom and inviolability of persons is assured to all those who live in the country.
Nobody can be arrested, except in the manner, with the guarantees and in the cases indicated by law.
The persons who has been arrested or the prisoner is inviolable in his personal integrity.
ARTICLE 59. Nobody can be tried or sentenced except by the competent court by virtue of laws which existed prior to the crime and
with the formalities and guarantees that the laws establish.
Every accused person has the right to a defense.
No violence or pressure of any kind can be used against people to force them to testify,
All statements obtained in violation of the above precept are null and void and those responsible for the violation will be punished as
outlined by law.
ARTICLE 60. Confiscation of property is only applied as a punishment by the authorities in the cases and by the methods determined by
law.
ARTICLE 61. Penal laws are retroactive when they benefit the accused or person who has been sentenced. Other laws are not retroactive
unless the contrary is decided for reasons of social interest or because it is useful for public purposes.
ARTICLE 62. None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to what is established in the Constitution
and by law, or contrary to the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build
socialism and communism. Violations of this principle can be punished by law.
ARTICLE 63. Every citizen has the right to file complaints with and send petitions to the authorities and to be given the pertinent response
or attention within a reasonable length of time, in keeping with the law.
ARTICLE 64. Every citizen has the duty of caring for public and social property, observing work discipline, respecting the rights of
others, observing standards of socialist living and fulfilling civic and social duties.
ARTICLE 65. Defense of the socialist homeland is the greatest honor and the supreme duty of every Cuban citizen.
The law regulates the military service which Cubans must do.
Treason against one’s country is the most serious of crimes; those who commit it are subject to the most severe penalties.
ARTICLE 66. Strict fulfillment of the Constitution and the laws is an inexcusable duty of all.
Gunajatabey from South America first occupied the island around 5,300 BCE followed by the
Taino and Ciboney of the Arawak culture. Christopher Columbus first sighted the island on
28 October, 1492 but didn't set foot on the island until 1494. The first Spanish settlement
was not established until an invasion force arrived in 1511 to conquer the island which was
fully achieved in 1514. African slaves were imported en masse through the 17th and 18th
century. England occupied the island from 1756 through 1763 during the Seven Years War
but reverted back to Spain who surrendered Florida to the British. Slavery was abolished in
1884, the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to do so. Three Wars of Independence were
waged beginning in 1868, drawing the United States into conflict with Spain and the
recognition of Cuban independence on 10 December 1898 with the United States occupying
the island until 1902 and the promulgation of the 1901 constitution. A military coup in 1933
led to the creation of a new Constitution in both 1934 and 1940. On 26 July 1953, Fidel Castro
launched an unsuccessful revolution against the Batista government. Leading a second
guerilla assault, Batista fled Cuba on 1 January 1959 and Castro's assumed leadership of
the nation. The current constitution was promulgated on 24 February 1976 but was amended
in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and most recently in 2002. Human rights
are enumerated beginning with Part Two (Citizenship), conform with the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of which Cuba is a signatory and are detailed below. For a full
English translation of Cuba's Constitution, click here.
Taino and Ciboney of the Arawak culture. Christopher Columbus first sighted the island on
28 October, 1492 but didn't set foot on the island until 1494. The first Spanish settlement
was not established until an invasion force arrived in 1511 to conquer the island which was
fully achieved in 1514. African slaves were imported en masse through the 17th and 18th
century. England occupied the island from 1756 through 1763 during the Seven Years War
but reverted back to Spain who surrendered Florida to the British. Slavery was abolished in
1884, the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to do so. Three Wars of Independence were
waged beginning in 1868, drawing the United States into conflict with Spain and the
recognition of Cuban independence on 10 December 1898 with the United States occupying
the island until 1902 and the promulgation of the 1901 constitution. A military coup in 1933
led to the creation of a new Constitution in both 1934 and 1940. On 26 July 1953, Fidel Castro
launched an unsuccessful revolution against the Batista government. Leading a second
guerilla assault, Batista fled Cuba on 1 January 1959 and Castro's assumed leadership of
the nation. The current constitution was promulgated on 24 February 1976 but was amended
in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and most recently in 2002. Human rights
are enumerated beginning with Part Two (Citizenship), conform with the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of which Cuba is a signatory and are detailed below. For a full
English translation of Cuba's Constitution, click here.