The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba is the Law that establishes the political, economic and social foundations of the Cuban State and its Government. The Cuban constitutional history began with the Guaimaro Constitution on April 10, 1869, which established the right to freedom and the abolition of slavery.
After the "Pacto del Zanjón", the Baraguá Constitution was approved, which gave legal basis to the foundations and purposes of the Baraguá Protest. With the Protest and the Constitution the national dignity was saved and the principle of historical continuity was maintained.
On September 16, 1895, with the Jimaguayú Constitution, the purpose of the Revolution for the independence of Cuba and the creation of the independent Republic with its own government was reaffirmed.
The fourth and last of our Mambisas Constitutions, "La Yaya", approved on October 19, 1897, maintained the principle of absolute independence and full freedom for men.
The fifth Cuban Constitution was established in 1901. This was a bourgeois Constitution that consolidated and protected private property. It contains the Platt Amendment, where the ideal of the Mambises was mutilated and our people humiliated, by stating that the United States government could exercise the right to intervene in Cuba and impose the sale or lease of the land they needed.
The sixth Constitution was established on October 10, 1940. It had a progressive and advanced article, due to popular pressure and the combative participation of communist delegates, but it was still a bourgeois Constitution, typical of the prevailing social system. This Constitution remained in force in the country during the first years of the Revolution.
In 1961, our people proclaimed, together with Fidel, the socialist character of the Revolution. From that moment, a new Constitution began to be studied and outlined. To this end, a group of jurists, appointed by the political and mass organizations, carried out a draft Magna Carta, which was submitted to discussion, in which more than 6 million people participated.