Constitutional jurisdiction and human rights in Cuba: A critical analysis regarding the 2019 constitutional reform

Abstract

After 42 years in force, in 2018 a process of reform to the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba of 1976 began. After the process of citizen consultations from which some modifications to the initial project derived, on February 24, 2019 is approved the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. In Title V Rights, duties and guarantees, is introduced Chapter VI Guarantees of rights, which incorporates a jurisdictional guarantee of rights. Article 99 introduces a novel figure in the 46 years that mediate between the disappearance of the Tribunal of Constitutional and Social Guarantees in 1973 and the approval of the Constitution of 2019. However, there are some debates generated in the Cuban and foreign academy around the regulation of rights and the effectiveness of the guarantees established for its safeguarding. These are the axes on which, the peculiarity of the jurisdictional guarantee of rights introduced in article 99.