Cuba what type of government does it have

There have been several amendments to the constitution since , including removing limitations on foreign investment, declaring Cuba as a secular state, and stating that the socialist system was permanent and irrevocable. Government Type: Communist State. Coat of Arms of Republic of Cuba. Grades each country on a scale of 0 to , based on ten freedoms, with representing the greatest amount of economic autonomy from government intervention.

Source: Heritage Foundation The delegates choose by secret ballot their President and Vicepresident, and after these have been elected, the President of the Municipal Electoral Commission bestows their respective authority Electoral Law Art. The electoral district is the base and fundamental aspect of the system of Popular Power. It is a territorial division of the municipality. The number of electoral districts of a municipality is determined for each election by the Provincial Electoral Commission by the respective Municipal Electoral Commission, based on the number of inhabitants of the municipality, so that the number of delegates is never less than thirty Electoral Law, Art.

The Electoral Law of the Republic of Cuba Law 72 of organizes, directs and validates the electoral processes that are celebrated with the aim of covering the elected posts in the entities of Popular Power, as well as their composition.

To hold referendums, the following electoral commission are created: a National Elend regulate civil status issues. Political and administrative structure Cuba is a unitary republic Art. National parliament La Asamblea nacional del Poder popular es Unicameral. Municipal government Municipal Assemblies and Popular Councils The posts of the Municipal Assemblies are renewed every two years through direct popular vote and can be revoked Art.

Representation system Majority electoral system. Type of list Open list. Electoral constituency The electoral district is the base and fundamental aspect of the system of Popular Power.

At first, the government highlighted participating companies' achievements in cutting costs and boosting profitability and quality and suggested that the increased autonomy of state managers under EI was producing an efficient form of socialism with a strong link between pay and performance. Many of the original participants have since left the program and participating firms have seen little growth in revenue. The EI program has fallen far short of expectations and the Cuban Government no longer heralds its successes or its future prospects.

In the Cuban Government also tightened foreign exchange controls, requiring that state companies hold money in convertible pesos and obtain special authorization from the central bank before making hard currency transactions. Practically speaking, this restricted companies from using the dollar for internal trade.

Following this, in the government announced that all state entities must stop charging in U. Cuba's precarious economic position is complicated by the high price it must pay for foreign financing. The Cuban Government defaulted on most of its international debt in and does not have access to credit from international financial institutions like the World Bank, which means Havana must rely heavily on short-term loans to finance imports, chiefly food and fuel.

In , citing chronic delinquencies and mounting short-term debts, Moody's lowered Cuba's credit rating to Caa1 -- "speculative grade, very poor. The latter is tasked with monitoring, infiltrating and tormenting the country's beleaguered human rights community. The government continues to commit serious abuses, and denies citizens the right to change their government. The government incarcerates people for their peaceful political beliefs or activities.

The total number of political prisoners and detainees is unknown, because the government does not disclose such information and keeps its prisons off-limits to human rights organizations. As of July 1, , at least Cubans were being held behind bars for political crimes, according to the independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. The government places severe limitations on freedom of speech and press.

Reporters Without Borders calls Cuba the world's second biggest jailer of journalists. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press insofar as they "conform to the aims of a socialist society. Access to the Internet is strictly controlled and given only to those deemed ideologically trustworthy. Freedom of assembly is not a right in today's Cuba. The law punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons.

The government also restricts freedom of movement and prevents some citizens from emigrating because of their political views. Cubans need explicit "exit permission" from their government to leave their country, and many people are effectively held hostage by the Cuban government, despite the fact that they have received travel documents issued by other countries.

The government does not tolerate dissent. These protests, called "acts of repudiation," involve the shouting of insults and the occasional use of violence. The events generate intense fear and are aimed at ostracizing and intimidating those who question the government's policies. Prison conditions are harsh and life-threatening. Although physical torture is rare, cruel treatment of prisoners - particularly political prisoners and detainees - is common.

Prison authorities frequently beat, neglect, isolate and deny medical treatment to inmates. Authorities often deny family visits, adequate nutrition, exposure to sunshine, and pay for work. Overcrowding is rife.

Inmates friendly with prison guards often receive preferential treatment. This leads to abuse, whereby connected inmates assault others with impunity. Desperation inside the country's estimated prisons and work camps is at high levels and suicides and acts of self-mutilation occur. Thousands of Cubans are currently imprisoned for "dangerousness," in the absence of any crime. Worker rights are largely denied.

The law does not allow Cuban workers to form and join unions of their choice. The government-approved unions do not act as trade unions, promote worker rights or protect the right to strike; rather, they are geared toward ensuring that production goals are met. Some workers lose their jobs because of their political beliefs.

Salaries are not high enough to meet food and clothing costs; consequently, many Cubans are forced into small-scale embezzlement or pilfering from their employers. Cuba aims to find new sources of trade, aid, and foreign investment and to promote opposition to U. Cuba has relations with over countries and has civilian assistance workers--principally physicians and nurses--in more than 20 nations. Since the end of Soviet backing, Cuba appears to have largely abandoned monetary support for guerrilla movements that typified its involvement in regional politics in Latin America and Africa, though it maintains relations with several guerrilla and terrorist groups and provides refuge for some of their members in Cuba.

Cuba's support for Latin guerrilla movements, its Marxist-Leninist government, and its alignment with the U.

Cuba is a member of the Organization of American States OAS , although its present government has been excluded from participation since for incompatibility with the principles of the inter-American system. In the context of the NAM and its ordinary diplomacy, Cuba has developed friendly relations with Iran, North Korea and other rogue states. Throughout the s and s, Cuba expanded its military presence abroad, spending millions of dollars in exporting revolutions; deployments reached 50, troops in Angola, 24, in Ethiopia, 1, in Nicaragua, and hundreds more elsewhere.

In Angola, Cuban troops, supported logistically by the U. Cuban forces played a key role in Ethiopia's war against Somalia and remained there in substantial numbers as a garrison force for a decade. Cubans served in a non-combat advisory role in Mozambique and the Congo. Cuba also used the Congo as a logistical support center for Cuba's Angola mission. In the late s, Cuba began to pull back militarily. Cuba unilaterally removed its forces from Ethiopia, met the timetable of the Angola-Namibia accords by completing the withdrawal of its forces from Angola before July , and ended military assistance to Nicaragua following the Sandinistas' electoral defeat.

EU-Cuban diplomatic relations have suffered as a result of the March crackdown on dissidents. In June , EU members imposed restrictive measures on Cuba including inviting dissidents to national day celebrations and suspending high-level meetings between EU members and the Cuban Government.

In January , though, the restrictions were suspended in an effort to re-engage the regime as a means of advancing the EU's policy of encouraging reform while preparing for the transition. Spain is among the most important foreign investors in Cuba. The ruling Zapatero government continues Spain's longstanding policy of encouraging further investment and trade with Cuba. Spanish economic involvement with Cuba is exclusively centered on joint venture enterprises that provide financial benefit to the Cuban Government through state-owned firms.

Spain's desire to provide support to its business community often impedes its willingness to pressure the Cuban Government on political reform and human rights issues. Cuba's bilateral relationship with Venezuela has helped keep the Cuban economy afloat.

The "Integral Cooperation Accord" signed by Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October laid the groundwork for a quasi-barter exchange of Venezuelan oil for Cuban goods and services that has since become a lifeline for Cuba. For Cuba, the benefits of the cooperation accord are subsidized petroleum and increased hard currency flows. The original agreement allowed for the sale, at market prices, of up to 53, barrels per day of crude oil and derivatives diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, etc.

The number of barrels of oil Venezuela began selling to Cuba has risen to over 90, barrels daily. In August , Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez amended the accord to allow Venezuela to compensate the Cuban Government in hard currency for any and all Cuban products and services originally intended as in-kind payment for Venezuelan oil. Venezuelan ministries are contracting with Cuba for everything from generic pharmaceuticals to pre-fabricated housing and dismantled sugar mill equipment.

On April 28, , Chavez and Castro signed 49 economic agreements in Havana, covering areas as diverse as oil, nickel, agriculture, furniture, shoes, textiles, toys, lingerie, tires, construction materials, electricity, transportation, health, and education.

Increased economic engagement along with the rapid growth in Cuban sales to Caracas has established Venezuela as one of the island's largest export markets. A series of recent economic agreements between Cuba and China have strengthened trade between the two countries. Most of China's aid involves in-kind supply of goods or technical assistance. If these MOUs are fully realized, they would represent a sharp increase in known Chinese investments in Cuba.

Chinese and Venezuelan economic support, including investment and direct aid, have given Cuba the space to eliminate many of the tentative open market reforms Cuba put in place during the depth of its mids economic crisis. The Initiative challenged the Cuban Government to open its economy, allow independent trade unions, and end discriminatory practices against Cuban workers. President Bush made clear that his response to such concrete reforms would be to work with the U.

Congress to ease the restrictions on trade and travel between the United States and Cuba. The Cuban Government did not enact any such reforms. Instead, elections for the National Assembly were held in January , with government-approved candidates running for seats. That was followed by the March crackdown on members of civil society. In October , President Bush then created the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba to help the Cuban people achieve the goal of a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy that is strongly supportive of fundamental political and economic freedoms.

Its mandate is to identify additional measures to help bring an end to the dictatorship and to lay out a plan for effective and decisive U. The commission report outlines how the United States would be prepared to help a free Cuba improve infrastructure and the environment; consolidate the transition and help build democracy; meet the basic needs of the Cuban people in health, education, housing, and social services; and create the core institutions of a free economy.

These recommendations are not a prescription for Cuba's future, but an indication of the kind of assistance the United States and the international community should be prepared to offer a free Cuba. The commission also sought a more proactive, integrated, and disciplined approach to undermine the survival strategies of the Castro regime and contribute to conditions that will help the Cuban people hasten the dictatorship's end.

The recommendations focus on actions available to the United States Government, allowing it to establish a strong foundation on which to build supportive international efforts. This comprehensive framework is composed of six interrelated tasks considered central to hastening change: empowering Cuban civil society; breaking the Cuban Government's information blockade on the Cuban people; denying resources to the regime; illuminating the reality of Castro's Cuba to the rest of the world; encouraging international diplomatic efforts to support Cuban civil society and challenge the Castro regime; and finally, undermining the regime's "succession strategy.

The Commission released its latest report in July www. Over the past decade, the regime has built an apparatus designed to exploit humanitarian aspects of U.

To deny resources to the regime, U. The United States has repeatedly made clear, however, that it is prepared to respond reciprocally if the Cuban Government initiates fundamental, systematic, democratic change and respect for human rights.