The Camagüey activist and chemical engineer Madelyn Sardiñas Padrón published this week an analysis in which she dismantles the three pillars that Article 1 of the 2019 Cuban Constitution proclaims as the foundations of the State: socialism, the rule of law, and social justice.
The text, titled “Cuba: Which Socialism is Irrevocable?” and published on the civic platform CubaxCuba, concludes that none of these three concepts exist in Cuban practice and that the Constitution uses them as instruments of legitimacy and political control.
"The Cuban reality reveals that the proclaimed socialism has never existed: it was always a state monopoly that employed the rhetoric of socialism without adhering to its principles. The opening phrase of Article 1 thus becomes a fallacious postulate, useful for legitimizing the regime but empty when measured against theory and the daily experiences of citizens. So, if there has been no socialism, what is it that is declared irrevocable in Cuba?" writes Sardiñas Padrón.
Regarding the first pillar, the activist asserts that “in what is likely the most blatant distortion of socialist theory, the regime established in Cuba since 1959 classified all means of production as 'fundamental' and transformed the State, from an administrator, into the absolute owner of virtually everything.” With the Revolutionary Offensive of 1968, thousands of small private businesses were nationalized, ranging from corner stores and workshops to barbershops and shoe-shining stands, and even the means of press were categorized as “fundamental means of production.”
The result, according to Sardiñas Padrón, was that “the community was reduced to a bureaucratic system, where workers were only summoned to agree to a farce of approval for the plans directed from the central level,” while the leadership positions fell to political cadres appointed by the sole party. The inefficiency of this model is now verifiable: between January and May 2026, 363 state enterprises were reporting losses, an increase of nearly 43% compared to the same period in 2025.
Regarding the rule of law, Sardiñas Padrón points out that the Constitution contradicts itself internally: "It is not even necessary to review the practice: the Constitution itself denies the existence of the rule of law in its Article 5, which proclaims the only legally authorized political party as the superior guiding force of society. In other words, the law legitimizes political power instead of limiting it." This internal contradiction is compounded by arbitrary detentions, political trials against peaceful protesters, and restrictions on freedom of the press and assembly.
The third pillar —social justice— also fails to withstand the contrast with reality. “People who dedicated their lives, excited by the promise of a better future, today have to live on a pension that barely covers the cost of 900 ml of oil, if they haven't had to see their children leave,” writes the activist. CEPAL projects a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 10.3% for 2026, and the minimum wage is equivalent to less than five dollars on the informal exchange.
Sardiñas Padrón is not exempt from the repression she denounces. She was arbitrarily detained on July 11, 2023, in Camagüey for posting on Facebook that there are political prisoners in Cuba. In March 2026, she publicly challenged the regime to call for a free plebiscite on government change, and in July of that year, she exposed the collapse of three major lies from the official discourse on the fifth anniversary of 11J.
"The Cuban Constitution proclaims a socialism that never existed, a rule of law denied by its own articles, and a social justice that exists only in discourse. The law legitimizes a centralized system that employs socialist rhetoric to justify absolute control and legitimize political power," concludes the activist, leaving an unanswered question that the regime has not addressed: if socialism was never real, what exactly does Article 4 of the Constitution declare irrevocable?
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