The banking expert and scholar of the 1940 Cuban Constitution, Alberto Luzárraga, suggested in an interview with Tania Costa that the high-ranking officials of the regime should be disqualified from voting in a future free Cuba.
"My opinion: individuals who are from the upper echelons of the regime, from the upper categories of the nomenclature, should be disqualified from voting. Those people do not have the right to vote because they have been doing everything possible to ensure that this system does not work. Therefore, they have already disqualified themselves," stated Luzárraga.
The expert, who has 35 years of experience in the banking sector in the United States and Latin America and holds a doctorate in Law from Cuba, acknowledged the tension generated by his own proposal. "I don't like taking the vote away from anyone, but there are people who do not deserve the vote."
To avoid leaving the measure in vague terms, Luzárraga specified that “a sensible and intelligent delimitation of certain levels” of the nomenclature should be made to determine who would be excluded from the vote.
The expert also emphasized that, for free elections to be effective in Cuba, it is essential to have a rigorous electoral roll. "For free elections to take place and be effective, there must be an electoral roll that is in proper order."
The interview also discussed the profile of the ideal president for a transitioning Cuba. In response to the question, Luzárraga humorously dismissed his own candidacy. "I'm too old for that. I have too much of a bad temper to be president. My ministers don't last long."
Regarding the leader that Cuba would need, the expert was precise: "He must be a cultured man, a sensible, balanced man. He needs to understand people, have a way with them, and also know how to recognize who is who."
Luzárraga cautioned, however, that identifying that leader will not be easy. "There are many who appear to be good people but are not. So that makes it very difficult, and one needs to be very balanced. You have to be instructive, you need to have a lot of patience, and take the time to explain things patiently, little by little, and to communicate with the people often."
These reflections are part of a broader debate on the Cuban democratic transition that gained momentum in 2026. The Cuban exile signed the Liberation Agreement in Miami in March of that year, a document that outlines phases of liberation, stabilization, reconstruction, and democratization with internationally supervised elections.
That agreement was ratified by the Cuban opposition in Madrid on June 1, in a sign of unity among the exile community around a common roadmap. During the same period, Julio Shiling publicly argued that Cuba should revert to the 1940 Constitution as the legal basis for the transition.
On her part, Rosa María Payá declared on June 1 that “we have never been closer” to a change in Cuba, an assessment that reflects the growing optimism among exiled communities in light of the current political context.
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