First round of elections held for Cuba's sixth party congress

[Judi Lynn]

First round of elections held for Cuba's sixth party congress
Tuesday 11 January 2011

Cuba's governing Communist Party (CCP) has started to elect pre-delegates to its sixth party congress.

On Monday Cuban First Vice-President of the Council of State Jose Machado expressed hope that party members with economic expertise will be picked.

He said they could "help with their work experience" in discussions on streamlining the country's socialist economic model.

The April congress is expected to pass a series of reforms laid out in a set of draft guidelines on economic and social policy, which are currently being discussed by the 850,000 cadres of the CCP and the public in mass meetings at workplaces and in neighbourhoods.

~snip~
A report in Cuban state media today noted that the congress coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/99653

[social_critic]

1. They should allow other parties to have Congresses

Unfortunately, Cuba is run by a "communist" oligarchy. The "communist" part is a little off, individuals join the party because it's the only party they can join. This means the party is full of people who belong because they want access to better housing, more power, or the ability to steal money. Most of these communist party members are just tongue in cheek communists.

The system would work a lot better if Cubans were able to form parties with different platforms, and Cubans were able to vote freely for those they think are worthy candidates. But it's impossible to organize free parties, and to make matters even worse, the communists forced an article onto the constitution making "socialism" the only system allowed. This of course means people aren't free to choose even if other parties were able to function.

In other words, the system is an oligarchy ruled by old timers whose stale ideas have to change, and a country full of people who are cynical about the whole thing and whose main focus is on survival. It's a terrible system, and it's doomed.

[social_critic]

2. Still no anwer

I wrote Raul a letter telling him they needed to change their laws to allow parties other than the communist party to meet and have congresses. Explained the party today is riddled with thieves and people who are not communists anyway, just belong to the party because it happens to be the only vehicle one can use to be rich and powerful in Cuba. And they corrode the party from within. Not that I give a hoot about the Communist Party, they are a bunch of thieves and petty tyrants, but if Raul really cares about communism then he ought to allow other parties to form and compete. It would be interesting to see how fast the Communist party drops to less than 15 % of the vote.