The opposition proposal seeks to guarantee stability, justice and free elections after more than six decades of authoritarianism.
Madrid, Spain.- The National Salvation Plan, presented by the Cuban Resistance Assembly (ARC) with the support of different opposition organizations, not only proposes the National unemployment As a civil disobedience strategy, but also designs an institutional roadmap for what it calls a transition government. The proposal seeks to lay the foundations of a democratic system after more than six decades of authoritarianism on the island.
The return of sovereignty as a central mandate
The document establishes that the supreme objective of the transitory process is “the return of sovereignty and its instruments to the Cuban people, in the least possible amount of time.” That premise articulates all the measures designed so that, within between 18 and 24 months, the conditions of a functional democracy are felt.
The proposal emphasizes that no member of the Transition Executive may aspire to elective positions in the first elections. It is a safeguard against the risk that those who lead the transition to perpetuate themselves in power, a repeated dynamic in other Latin American contexts.
The National Salvation Government, according to the Plan, must organize “Republican Institutional Bases that enhance collective decision making in a transparent and free way”. In other words, political design will not be imposed from above, but subject to popular will.
National Council of the Republic: a plural and temporal organ
The Plan contemplates the creation of a National Council of the Republic, composed of 51 resistance representatives, which would have the mission of choosing a provisional executive. This Council is conceived as a deliberative and advisory body, with the function of approved a provisional constitutional law inspired by the 1940 Constitution, recognized as the most democratic text in Cuban republican history.
Among its most sharp provisions is the exclusion of the Communist Party of Cuba, which is defined as “a joint criminal company that has conspired to steal their rights and freedoms from the Cuban people.”
The Council would also include leaders of the Armed Forces “of any current rank that patriotically add their efforts to the struggle of the Cuban people for their freedom.” That detail is key: it seeks to involve military who can guarantee stability in transit to a new stage.
Luis Zúñiga’s vision
At his conference Why don’t you have to fear change in Cuba?the political and opposition express Luis Zúñiga stressed the importance of military role in an eventual transition process: “The armed forces will have a fundamental role because they will have to guarantee the stability of the country. There must be peace.” For Zúñiga, stability is the first condition for any provisional government to boost structural changes.
The provisional national executive: three heads and a limited mandate
The provisional national executive would be made up of a president and two vice presidents, all residing in the national territory. Its immediate powers would be the creation of a provisional legal council to rebuild the judicial system and the implementation of a complete financial audit on the State of the Republic.
The Plan establishes that this Executive would govern by decree, in consultation with the National Council, until the celebration of multiparty elections within a period not exceeding 12 months. From there, it would correspond to Congress to decide between restoring the 1940 Constitution, updating or elaborating a new one.
Luis Zúñiga complements this idea with an economic approach. For him, one of the most urgent tasks of the future government will be to return confiscated properties, privatize state companies and create a compensation and credit fund for Cubans of the island. “The Cuban State does not have to be managing hotels or owning anything. The government has to be an entity that receives money and redistributes it for the needs of the nation,” he said.
His approach is aligned with the spirit of the plan, which insists on dismantling the absolute control of the State on economic life and opening space to the private sector as a development engine.
Reorganization of the electoral system: guarantees for a free vote
One of the most detailed sections of the plan is the one relating to the redesign of the electoral system. The proposal raises a sequence:
- Creation of a Congress of the Republic that, in 12 months, writes a constitutional proposal.
- A national plebiscite to approve or reject that Constitution in a maximum of 24 months.
- Free and multiparty elections to establish the Executive Power.
The text establishes 10 technical steps to guarantee transparency: from the update of the census and the right to the vote of Cubans abroad, to the supervision of international observers, equitable financing of campaigns and the possibility of independent candidacies.
The objective is that the elections reflect, in the words of the document, “independence and fair and plural participation of all the political forces that decide to participate.”
OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE: an optimistic vision
The plan insists that the transition must be short, clear and legitimate. Zúñiga brings a more optimistic vision of describing the island’s economic potential in a post -communist scenario:
- Property and privatization: “With all that wealth of privatization of hotels, resorts, restaurants, state properties, a fund will be created … where loans would be given for everyone who wants to put a business.”
- Housing: Part of these funds would be used for housing reconstruction, offering accessible mortgages for Cuban families.
- Sports and culture: Cuba, he said, is a quarry of athletes and artists who could quickly insert themselves into the international market, generating millionaire income.
- Foreign investment: “Cuba has a formidable strategic position. How much does it cost to transport from Cuba to the United States? It is a trifle,” he said, anticipating an avalanche of investment in technological, metallurgical and health industries.
In this sense, the transition not only seeks to restore democracy, but also to offer immediate opportunities to citizens.
Health, education and basic services
Zúñiga also recalled that before 1959 Cuba had free public hospitals and high quality mutual clinics, denialing the idea that the revolution was the only one that guaranteed social services. “Medical care is not a privilege of the communist regime. It existed before the revolution in a free market economy system,” he said.
For the opponent, recovering that public health and education network, combined with freedom of private initiatives, will be a central element in the legitimacy of the new democratic order.
Open challenges and questions
The transition government design raises great challenges:
- How to guarantee stability amid repression and lack of independent institutions.
- How to ensure that the exclusion of the Communist Party does not contradict the principle of political pluralism.
- How to manage the international reintegration of Cuba in the current geopolitical context.
Despite these unknowns, both the plan and the vision of Zúñiga agree that the greatest error would be to fear change.
Between the plan and hope
The transition government of the National Salvation Plan offers a precise institutional itinerary. Luis Zúñiga, meanwhile, recalls that this path is not only possible, but is loaded with immediate opportunities for citizens: from housing and employment to health, education and professional development.
The transition will be the beginning of a Cuba where the State ceases to be the absolute owner of the life of its citizens and becomes guarantor of their rights and freedoms.
“They are not afraid of change, what they have to be afraid is the monstrosity they have now,” Zúñiga insisted. The National Salvation Plan, with all its limitations and challenges, seeks precisely to draw that bridge between oppression and hope.
