The 2019 Cuban Constitution and its Concept of Human Rights

Tensions between the Revolution and the Market

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2025/93166

Human rights stand as the cornerstone of modern constitutionalism. Yet, Cuba did not formally include them in its legal framework until 2019—a change that sparked questions about how a system that defines itself as “socialist” would respond to such an incorporation. The main goal of this article is to explore why these rights were included and what impact they may have on Cuba’s legal, political, and social order. The analysis draws on Marxist Legal Critique, whose conceptual tools make it possible to examine the issue in its full complexity, rather than limiting it to a purely legal perspective. The article is organized into several sections: theoretical framework, methodology, background, socialist rights, the 2019 Constitution, the shift from tactic to strategy, the transition from revolutionary legitimacy to legal legitimacy, and finally, the conclusions. Ultimately, one of the key findings is that human rights serve as a kind of thermometer, revealing the extent to which capitalism has been gradually restored within the Caribbean nation.