Updating and renewing the Cuban Family Code is our main challenge.
Tamara Caridad Mesa González 16 mayo, 2019
This is what Osvaldo M. Álvarez Torres, a lawyer and professor at the Camilo Cienfuegos University headquarters in the city of Matanzas, said about the current challenges that Civil and Family Law in Cuba faces in the new economic and social scenario of the island. , marked among other changes, by an accelerated aging and without reaching the goal of population replacement.
In the interview given to Radio 26 on the occasion of May 15, the International Day of the Family, instituted by the UN, the vice president of the Provincial Board of the Union of Jurists of Cuba (UNJC), emphasized that although There are multiple strategies and regulations applied by the government of the Greater Antilles in order to protect the family and achieve its best functionality, the most recent and novel in this matter are the aspects incorporated into the renewed Constitution of the Republic, which It came into force on April 10.
“One of the great contributions of the new Constitution is that recognizes the diversity of existing families in our social reality, in chapter III of the supreme law from Articles 81 to 88 defines the right of every Cuban to found a family , it is confirmed that it is the natural, basic and fundamental element of society, but throughout the text a major importance is given to the types of families, an aspect that will be well founded in another development law that is under study, that is, the new Code, only to this law corresponds to detail and also define the controversial issue of marriage and adoption “-the jurist clarified.
With respect to the need to modify and temper the new social scenario the current Cuban Family Code, which celebrated its 44th anniversary last February, and the process of drafting the new text that will be promulgated, the academic from Matanzas said.
“The Cuban Family Code in force since 1975 was an example of legal progression and superiority in Latin America. It is a code that regulated as never before in the country family institutions: marriage, divorce, parental-filial relationships, such as the communication system and the care and custody of children, the obligation to provide food, adoption and guardianship, with the main objectives of contributing to the strengthening of the family and of the bonds of mutual affection, help and respect among its members.
“In addition, it was an important legal and educational tool to help overcome prejudices, because it legitimized equality in the family and guaranteed Cuban women a legal situation consistent with their rightful place in society,” explains Álvarez Torres. .but the renewal and updating of the Code is imposed before the economic, cultural, social changes that our country has had, we must introduce new aspects, more in line with the interests of the various figures that coexist in the family environment.
“At the moment there is a drafting committee working on the new text, which is taking into account various specialized opinions, experiences of other nations and once elaborated will be carried like the constitution to the popular referendum, something unprecedented in Latin America and other regions of the world, that is, bring a law of development to the popular consultation. We have two years to complete the proclamation of what will be the Code that will protect all Cuban families.
” When inquiring about the current challenges of Family Law in Cuba, which in turn would be the modifications that will be contemplated in the new Code, the specialist responds.
“The challenge is precisely to accept that there are several types of families, not only consanguineous or extended family as we Cubans are accustomed, where the union between the members is by parental bonds, that is, grandparents, uncles, cousins, brothers-in-law, There is also now the affective or sentimental conception between people who live together who may be relatives or not, but who need recognition and protection as a family in the legal order.
“Another challenge will be to define the issue of marriage and the adoption of children, a very controversial issue during the referendum of the Constitution … it is worth mentioning a reflection of the illustrious professor and Doctor Olga Mesa Castillo, emblematic figure of Family Law in Cuba , when in this sense he mentioned two basic premises, that the family has undergone changes in the historical evolution and that the economic relations prevailing in society influence relations and family ties, as the family is born from the bosom of society, it tempers the environment that surrounds it and not the other way around “.
He also president of the Chapter of Civil and Family Law in the Matanzas branch of the Union of Jurists, noted as progress of what will be the new Code some aspects already embodied in the Constitution, related to the legal protection of the various figures in the home.
“The new Constitution includes special regulations regarding the obligation and responsibility of family members with care for the elderly, children, adolescents and young people and other vulnerable figures such as people with disabilities, this will also be registered as procedural regulations. Familiar in the future code “.
And on the occasion of the anniversary, a final message to Cuban families from his point of view as a specialist.
“I call for unity, cohesion, understanding and understanding among all members of the family, as the basic and primary cell of society, this is where traditions, customs and personal values are built, but also of the Cuban nation, and where the principles that govern the behavior of an individual before society must first be established, such as honesty, respect and commitment to life “, said the Matanzas jurist.
