Cuba Asked Eight Million Citizens to Sign a Petition Defending a Single Word in Its Constitution
Cuba — Constitution Profile
| 📅 Active Since | April 10, 2019 |
| 🏛️ Government | One-Party Socialist Republic |
| 🌍 Capital | Havana |
| 📄 Replaced | 1976 Constitution |
| 🗳️ Referendum Approval | 86.85% |
| ✏️ Public Proposals Received | 9,600+ |
When a government asks ordinary citizens to weigh in on a draft constitution, the requests usually come back focused on jobs, housing, or healthcare. In Cuba's case, one of the most contested moments in the entire process came down to a single word that millions of people had strong feelings about — and the government's eventual response involved collecting more signatures than most countries have voters.
The Draft Tried to Replace "Husband and Wife" With Something Much Broader
Early versions of Cuba's new constitution attempted something genuinely progressive for a country with a famously conservative streak running through parts of its society. The new constitution also removes the requirement that marriage be "between one man and one woman."
The original proposed language went even further, describing marriage as a union between two people "with absolutely equal responsibilities." It was a quiet but deliberate attempt to open the door to marriage equality without forcing the issue head-on in the main constitutional text itself.
It Got Pulled Out — But the Government Says That Wasn't a Retreat
What happened next revealed just how contested the issue actually was, even within a one-party state. This language was removed due to backlash from the more conservative sectors of Cuban society, with the new constitution not specifically recognizing same-sex marriage, but still removing the constitutional obstacles to its recognition by specifically avoiding a definition of marriage.
One of the country's most prominent LGBT advocates, who also happened to be the daughter of the country's former president, framed it as a tactical delay rather than a defeat. Mariela Castro, a Cuban LGBT rights activist, daughter of Raúl Castro and director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, has stated that this change is "not a setback" and that the issue would be addressed in the upcoming family code amendment. The 2022 Cuban Family Code referendum resulted in a 2/3 vote in favor of a law legalizing same-sex marriages on the island — proving her prediction correct three years later.
One Sentence Was So Important the Government Collected Millions of Signatures to Defend It
The marriage debate wasn't the only flashpoint. There was a moment, during the drafting process, when an early version genuinely considered dropping a specific political commitment from the text entirely. One of the prospective drafts of the constitution omitted the aim of building a communist society and instead works towards the construction of socialism.
That change didn't survive contact with the public. However, following a series of community meetings across Cuba which debated the draft, it was readded in the final draft before going to a vote. The episode echoed something that had happened years earlier, when ordinary citizens had tried to challenge the system through entirely legal means — and the state's response was staggering in scale. In 2002 supporters of a movement known as the Varela Project submitted a citizen proposal of law with 11,000 signatures calling for a national referendum on political and economic reforms. The Government response was to collect 8.1 million signatures to request that Cuba's National Assembly enact a constitutional amendment making socialism an unalterable feature of Cuban government.
Eleven thousand signatures asking for a vote on reform were met with 8.1 million signatures demanding the opposite be made permanently unchangeable. The math alone tells you which side won that argument.
The Process Generated Nearly Ten Thousand Separate Public Proposals
Whatever the limits of Cuba's political system, the drafting process itself involved a genuinely massive amount of public participation on paper. The first draft was made available to the entire Cuban population in 2018. Over many months, Cubans read the document and made a total of 780 suggestions and 9,600 proposals. Many of these were incorporated in the final draft.
The scale of the consultation effort matched the scale of the document itself. It was announced that 135,000 meetings would be held during the popular consultation. Each of these would be run by 7,600 two-person teams who would receive specialized training. Few constitutional processes anywhere in the world have organized public consultation on quite that scale.
The Yes Vote Was Overwhelming — But Smaller Than the One Before It
When the final referendum happened, support for the new constitution was still resounding by almost any global standard, even if it represented a shift from the past. Following consideration of amendments, a referendum was held to pass the Constitution on 24 February 2019, succeeding with 86.85% of the popular vote.
That number looks different placed next to the vote that approved Cuba's previous constitution decades earlier. The Constitution of 1976 was adopted by referendum on 15 February 1976, in which it was approved by 99.02% of voters, in a 98% turnout. One analysis of the shift noted plainly that while the 87% "Yes" vote still demonstrates strong support for the government, it may also suggest that more Cubans felt that they could express their opposition.
It Brought Back a Legal Protection That Had Vanished for Nearly Eighty Years
Buried among the more headline-grabbing reforms was a quieter but legally significant restoration. The restoration of a presumption of innocence in the justice system, last provided for in the 1940 Constitution of Cuba.
Nearly eight decades after that earlier protection had disappeared from Cuban law, the 2019 constitution brought it back, alongside other procedural rights that hadn't been guaranteed for generations. Introducing the right to legal counsel immediately upon arrest. Introducing the ability to sue the government for damages or negligence. Introducing the right to appear before a judge and report unlawful imprisonment through habeas corpus.
The Document Still Names a Single Party as Permanently in Charge
Despite all the reforms and the lengthy public consultation, one foundational structure of Cuban governance remained completely untouched. The Communist Party of Cuba, unique, Martiano, Fidelista, and Marxist-Leninist, the organized vanguard of the Cuban nation, sustained in its democratic character as well as its permanent linkage to the people, is the superior driving force of the society and the State.
International observers were direct about what this meant in practice. Despite some changes, the constitution would largely preserve the country's one-party system. Whatever else the 2019 constitution updated, modernized, or expanded, the question of who actually holds power was never seriously on the table.
Constitution at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Previous Constitution | 1976 (99.02% approval) |
| Drafting Task Force Formed | July 14, 2018 |
| Public Consultation Period | August 13 – November 15, 2018 |
| Public Proposals Received | 9,600+ |
| Referendum Date | February 24, 2019 |
| Referendum Result | 86.85% Yes |
| Came into Force | April 10, 2019 |
| Total Articles | 229 (up from 137) |
| Presidential Term Limit (new) | 2 consecutive 5-year terms, age cap of 60 for first term |
| 2022 Family Code Referendum | Legalized same-sex marriage, 2/3 approval |
📥 Read the Constitution of Cuba
Read the complete, official English text of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba:
👉 Read the Constitution of Cuba — Full Text
A single word on marriage that divided a nation's drafting process. Eight million signatures collected to keep socialism permanent. A one-party system that survived every reform around it. What part of Cuba's story surprised you most? Tell us in the comments below.
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