How do you defend the Constitution?

In its articles there are self-defense mechanisms that ratify it as the supreme law of the nation. This character is nowadays an unquestioned principle, admitted by any doctrinal position that is assumed.

In its articles there are self-defense mechanisms that ratify it as the supreme law of the nation.

Articles 4 and 90 of the national constitutional text endorse ways of defending the Constitution. The first of these articles calls upon citizens to use force, if necessary, to protect the political, economic and social order established by the Fundamental Law of the Cubans, while the second requires them to observe the postulates of the Constitution as a way of safeguarding the institutional order protected by the letter of the Constitution.

The defense of the socialist homeland is the greatest honor and the supreme duty of every Cuban (…). The socialist system endorsed by this Constitution is irrevocable. Citizens have the right to fight by all means, including armed struggle, when no other recourse is possible, against anyone who attempts to overthrow the political, social and economic order established by this Constitution.

Article 90. The exercise of the rights and freedoms provided for in this Constitution implies responsibilities. The duties of Cuban citizens, in addition to those established in this Constitution and the laws, are as follows:

(…);

b) to comply with the Constitution and other legal norms;

(…).

But it is not a question of one or the other forms of defense of the Constitution, valid in extreme situations or in the daily life of Cubans (in this aspect so often undermined by citizens).

Constitutional Law is nourished by various principles, internationally admitted by the community of States. Among these principles, the one that enjoys the greatest unanimity is known as constitutional supremacy.

According to this principle, the Constitution, as the fundamental rule of a State, is also its supreme rule. This character of the Constitution as supreme rule is nowadays an unquestioned principle, admitted by any doctrinal position that is assumed.

Consultant prof Osvaldo Manuel Álvarez Torres.