Cuba's First Party Conference: Out with the Old, in with the New?

Cuba will host its first Communist Party Conference this weekend as part of its ongoing effort to “update” the island’s socialist model. The ruling Communist Party (PCC) will meet January 28 and 29 as a follow-up to last April’s VI Party Congress, which introduced a number of changes to the island’s economic and political structure. President Raúl Castro stated the conference will deal with “perfecting” those reforms, and bringing adjustments to “update” the PCC and “change its mentality.” However, given the economic reforms undertaken over the past year, some question if the island’s octogenarian leadership underestimate the public’s desire for similarly major political reforms.

The VI Party Congress in April 2011 legalized over 300 economic reforms that the government implemented over the past year. The reforms included eased restrictions on self-employment by increasing the number of permitted professions, allowing business to hire employees, and decreasing tax burdens. Cuban farmers can now lease land from the government and are permitted to sell their goods directly to tourist sites. Late last year, the government began allowing the private sale of automobiles and private property for the first time since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The state also began offering loans for the expansion of small businesses or home construction or repair. The reforms show signs of causing change: the island doubled its number of self-employed to more than 364,000 by the end of 2011. Still, President Raúl Castro said on January 12 that the reforms “are going forward, but with many difficulties.”

This weekend’s conference will focus on unfinished business from the VI Party Congress, including efforts to modernize the PCC. The goal will be to promote “generational renewal” within the PCC, with much of the party’s leadership having held positions since the 1960s. Within the Cuban politburo, “the presence of young people, blacks, and women is minimal,” writes Arturo López Levy, an expert in U.S.-Cuban relations. As such, among the 96 proposals found in the Conference’s debate framework—published on government-run Cubadebate on October 14, 2011— two-thirds are dedicated to issues of youth involvement. Other proposals include initiatives to limit party officials to two terms of five years each to increase political turnover, and to end discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

However, major political change in line with the nature of last year’s economic changes is not expected, with President Raúl Castro stating there should be “no great illusions” about the Conference, and that changes must be made “at our own pace to avoid mistakes.” Despite the great economic liberalization undertaken over the past year, limits to free speech and political choice continue. The PCC remains the island’s only legal political party and controls all aspects of the country’s government. News surfaced last week that political prisoner Wilmar Villar died due to complications from a hunger strike in protest of a four-year sentence for participating in a demonstration. Further, Human Rights Watch has classified Cuba as the only country in Latin America “that still represses virtually all forms of political dissent.” Given the lack of political opening, some analysts believe the PCC does not recognize the need for political reforms among the Cuban people. In a debate among intellectuals published in the Archdiocese of Havana’s Espacio Laical,  the Archbishop of Havana spokesman, Orlanda Márquez, compares the current situation to the end of the Cold War, saying: “The dilemma of the Eastern European communist parties…was their inability to adapt or accommodate political decisions to economic necessities.”

Learn More:

• Read an AS/COA News Analysis on the VI Party Congress in April 2011. 
• Read the debate groundwork for the First Communist Party Conference, published on government website Cubadebate.
• Access the Archdiocese of Havana’s magazine, Espacio Laical, which published a debate among Cuban intellectuals on the Conference.