Cubans on Sunday will vote in a landmark referendum on whether or not to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption, permit surrogate pregnancies and provides better rights to non-biological dad and mom.
The new household code, promoted by the communist authorities, would symbolize a serious shift in Cuba, the place the tradition of machismo is robust and the place the LGBTQ community was ostracized by authorities within the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.
More than eight million Cubans over 16 are invited to vote “Yes” or “No” amid the nation’s worst financial disaster in 30 years, and consultants say the referendum might flip into a chance to voice opposition in opposition to the federal government.
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If accredited, the brand new household code would change a regulation in impact since 1975 and outline marriage because the union between two individuals, moderately than that of a person and a lady.
It would additionally allow surrogate pregnancies, so long as no cash adjustments arms, whereas boosting kids’s rights and people of the aged and other people with disabilities.
“The family code sets out above all respect for human beings, respect for each (person) and everyone,” stated President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Polling stations can be open from 7:00 am to six:00 pm native time.
On Same-sex marriages: ‘I’m Christian, I’ve different concepts’
The official perspective towards homosexuality has modified considerably over the previous 20 years, and the federal government has put a lot effort into the “Yes” marketing campaign on tv and social media.
“I couldn’t care less if two men marry or two women marry, I don’t have that prejudice,” 67-year-old retiree Reinaldo Orgalles advised AFP. “I’m from another era, but I don’t have that prejudice.”
In 2019, the federal government sought to incorporate same-sex marriage rights within the nation’s new structure however balked after criticism from the Catholic and Evangelical Churches.
The Conference of Bishops just lately reiterated its opposition to among the key provisions of the brand new code, equivalent to permitting surrogate pregnancies.
“It is unethical… when a woman who has carried a baby in her womb for nine months must hand it over to others straight after birth,”
the bishops stated.
Zulika Corso, 65, a instructor in central Havana agrees.
“I’m Christian, I have other ideas, I don’t accept this,”
she stated.
‘More necessary topics’
Between February and April, an unlimited public debate befell throughout Cuba, with greater than 79 000 neighborhood conferences held to debate the brand new household rights.
That resulted in additional than half the unique textual content being modified, in keeping with official media.
Still, political scientist Rafael Hernandez calls it the “most important human rights legislation” in Cuba because the 1959 revolution.
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The regulation could be some of the progressive in Latin America, the place same-sex marriage is barely authorized in eight different nations: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay and a few Mexican states.
But consultants additionally say the sheer dimension of the code — it incorporates some 500 articles — might work in opposition to it.
Some Cubans, for instance, have expressed help for same-sex marriage however oppose surrogate pregnancies.
“I still haven’t decided because there are some things I consider good and many others I don’t consider good,”
stated Airam Zulueta, a restaurant proprietor.
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Six a long time after the revolution, Cuba is experiencing its worst financial disaster in 30 years, fueled by ramped-up US sanctions and a tourism collapse as a result of coronavirus pandemic.
Many Cubans are struggling to entry medication, electrical energy, gasoline and primary foodstuffs amid important import shortages and staggering inflation.
The nation erupted in historic anti-government protests final summer season by residents clamoring for meals and better freedoms.
Hundreds have been detained and jailed, however crackdown has not stopped repeated demonstrations in current months in a rustic notoriously illiberal of dissent.
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Many voters might use this event to specific disapproval of the federal government, consultants have stated.
“There are many other subjects that are more important than the family code, like the fact there is no food, that many people are hungry,”
concierge Julio Cesar Vazquez advised AFP.
Dissidents and the banned opposition, wanting different means to specific themselves, have known as on residents to reject the brand new code or to abstain from voting.
The regulation wants greater than 50 p.c of the vote to be adopted.
© Agence France-Presse
