The campaign Childhood and Land: Rights at Risk Cubalex focuses on two areas that should be a source of protection and development for citizens, but which in Cuba are permeated by state control and a lack of real guarantees.
Based on a legal analysis, our team identified key findings that show how the new regulations strengthen political control and restrict fundamental rights.
Childhood: a Code without real guarantees
He Children, Adolescents and Youth Code The agreement approved in Cuba presents profound contradictions with international human rights standards. Among the main findings are:
- Imposed ideological duties → The Code obliges girls and adolescents to honor the homeland and defend socialist values, which in practice means indoctrination and exclusion of those who think differently.
- Police control over adolescence → The MININT can intervene in cases of adolescents without a judge or trial, criminalizing natural stages of adolescence.
- Lack of protection against violence → There are no clear mechanisms to report sexual abuse, family or institutional violence.
- Structural discrimination ignored → Afro-descendant girls, girls with disabilities, or daughters of dissidents are rendered invisible.
- Deprivation of liberty without crime → Internment is permitted for “social dangerousness” or “behavioral disorders”, contravening international standards.
- Rights subject to ideological loyalty → Education is conceived as a way to train “continuers of the revolutionary work”.
- Without redress or legal recourse → The Code does not offer effective procedures for challenging arbitrary decisions or mechanisms for redress.
Land: a resource under threat
The new Draft Land Law It also concentrates power in the state, weakening basic rights of peasant farmers. The findings identified include:
- Reinforced state monopoly → The land remains the property of the State, even though it is worked by families for generations.
- Severe restrictions on private property → It is prohibited to lease, mortgage or freely transfer the land, emptying the property of real content.
- Administrative discretion → The Ministry of Agriculture can declare land as idle or poorly exploited without objective criteria, generating insecurity.
- Arbitrary termination of usufruct → Ambiguous causes such as “abandonment” or “inappropriate use” allow peasants to be dispossessed of their land, even in situations of force majeure.
- Lack of effective judicial protection → Conflicts are resolved by administrative commissions dependent on the State itself.
- Structural inequality → There are no measures in place to protect rural women, Afro-descendants, the elderly, or people with disabilities, perpetuating historical exclusions.
Why make these findings visible?
Childhood and land are not isolated issues: both reveal how the Cuban state subordinates fundamental rights to political and ideological ends. By imposing mandatory loyalty, denying protection to the most vulnerable, and controlling vital resources, patterns of repression and exclusion are consolidated, affecting entire communities.
At Cubalex, we believe that making these risks visible is the first step toward demanding real change. We encourage you to follow and share the information we share on our social media channels so that more and more people become aware of how fundamental rights are being violated in Cuba.
Additionally, you can watch the 10 special programs on our YouTube channel. of the campaign Childhood and Land: Rights at Risk. In them, our legal team thoroughly analyzes the Children's Code and the Draft Land Law, revealing key findings and explaining how these regulations put fundamental rights at risk.