including robbery, assault or homicide, and fraud or misuse of public funds, and others. Little scope remains for the operation of ordinary courts. Except for the municipal courts, which represent a remaining link with the old system, the ordinary courts are gradually disappearing from the judicial scene.

Other than the relatively few ordinary courts still in operation in early 1970, the prevailing court structure consisted of revolutionary tribunals, people's courts, and municipal courts. These last were summary courts consisting of one judge, who was limited to trying misdemeanors. People's courts had jurisdiction over minor offenses and could impose penalties of up to six months of confinement. The revolutionary tribunals were the highest courts in the structure and tried felonies or major crimes of a counterrevolutionary nature. They could impose any recognized punishment, including the death penalty and confiscation of property (see ch. 24, Public Order and Internal Security).

The Communist Party of Cuba

The Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de CubaPCC) is the only political party permitted to function. It is, in fact, a functioning organism of government. Its place in the structure, the interrelationships of the various elements of the hierarchy, and the authorities and responsibilities of each segment were still in the development stage in early 1970; it appeared clear, however, that the PCC would finally end up in a dominant position, in formal, as well as in actual, control of the government.

The party manifesto declares that the PCC governs through its Central Committee by means of the public administration. This organization is at the apex of a framework that extends through all levels of government and reaches down to factory and farm. It is headed by Prime Minister Castro as first secretary of the Communist Party, who is also chairman of its two principal subordinate components, the eight-member Political Bureau and the six-member Secretariat. The Central Committee itself has a membership of ninety-four and comprises virtually the entire top leadership of the regime, including President Dorticos and minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Raúl Castro. Over two-thirds of its members are military officers.

There are five standing subcommittees, and these have become the highest government authority in their respective fields, in effect usurping functions usually attributed to a ministry. Conflict is avoided, however, by the ministers themselves being members of the Central Committee, exercising their control in the name of the party. The standing committees are: constitutional studies; foreign

affairs; armed forces and state security; economy; and education. These responsibilities were given to the subcommittees in 1965 and represent areas that had not formerly been under party control.

The party is organized in an ascending hierarchy built up on the basic party cell. There are thousands of these cells incorporated into virtually every phase of government, industry, and agriculture. They range in membership from 5 to 200 and form a directing nucleus in factories, farms, work centers, government agencies, and units of the armed forces (see ch. 25, The Armed Forces).

These cells at the grassroots level are combined to form sectional or municipal directorates called committees, and these in turn are formed into regional committees. The next higher level comprises the provincial committees, which are directly subordinate to the Central Committee. There is one of these committees for each province, and each has its Executive Bureau and its Secretariat. Members of each higher echelon directorate are elected at general assemblies by the party members of the next lower unit. Thus, the cells select the members of the sectional or municipal committees; these elect those of the regional committees, who in turn elect the members of the provincial committees.

The buildup of party membership has been slow and deliberate, and until 1969 the PCC was more a cadre than a mass organization. Membership had remained relatively static since the adoption of the present organizational form in 1965. At the beginning of 1969 membership was reported at approximately 70,000, which was proportionately the lowest rate for party cardholders of any Communist country. In May the government undertook a program of expansion and launched a concerted drive to increase the membership. The immediate goal was placed at 10,000 new members, with an ultimate aim of reaching 150,000 by the end of the year. According to information available, it was indicated that the drive was meeting with considerable success.

Paralleling the party structure, the Communist Youth Organization (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas-UJC) is the junior organization that grooms young candidates for party membership. Patterned after the Soviet Young Communist League, it was formed in 1962 by consolidating all of the country's various youth and student groups into one central body that was guided and directed by selected party members specially trained for this work.

Admission to membership is put on a competitive basis and is held out as a prize for socialist accomplishment in studies or work. Both boys and girls up to age eighteen are eligible, and a party card in the UJC has become a standard award for excellence in any line of endeavor, whether it be work in the canefields or graduation from a military preparatory school. Membership in the youth organization serves as a steppingstone that facilitates full party membership upon reaching the required age.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The country has always had a highly centralized political administration, and emphasis on the capital city has tended to minimize local autonomy and initiative. Although the Castro regime has broadened the responsibilities of subordinate local governments, the interests favoring centralization continue to prevail, and most local government is still directed from the top. There is an elaborate framework of subordinate authorities, called administrations, each with a president elected by the Communist Party. The operation of the entire system is under the direction and supervision of a number of agencies of the central government called provincial and municipal boards for coordination, operation, and inspection.

The country is divided into six administrative provinces: Pinar del Río, La Habana (which includes the Isle of Pines), Matanzas, Las Villas, Camagüey, and Oriente. Oriente is the largest in area, and La Habana the smallest, although in structure and organization the capital city, in effect, constitutes a separate entity amounting to an additional province. A reorganization in 1965 subdivided the provinces into regions, each comprising a number of municipalities (municipios), which were in turn made up of a designated number of districts (barrios). The number of subordinate subdivisions varies widely, ranging from 12 regions and 117 municipalities in Oriente Province, to 4 regions and 28 municipalities in La Habana Province. The latter figure, however, does not include the 8 regions and 38 municipalities constituting the capital city.

Latest government-published statistics indicated that there were a total of 52 regions and 344 municipalities in the entire country, but subsequent reports from individual provinces have shown sizable increases in some areas. Oriente Province, for example, reported 12 regions rather than 11 shown in the statistical report, and 117 municipalities, increased from 88. The administrations at the various levels exercise a monitoring function in carrying out the instructions of the party. Their authority is largely limited to the supervision of local services and public works, and central committees at provincial, regional, and municipal levels appoint subcommittees that are charged with execution of the various enterprises in their areas of jurisdiction.

Elections of administration presidents and members of central committees are held twice a year at convened party meetings called asambleas. They are held at provincial, regional, and municipal levels, the municipality representatives being made up of delegates from the subordinate districts. After selection of a president from among those named to the central committee, subcommittees are appointed to handle the assigned area tasks. Although the number of committees and their functions vary considerably in different localities, they generally follow a standard pattern. A typically

representative structure is that of the San José Region of La Habana Province. It had three major subcommittees, charged respectively with construction, communal services, and local enterprises.

The responsibilities of the construction group included all phases of the siting, erection, or razing of buildings, and the repair and maintenance of roads. The communal services subcommittee had charge of street cleaning, promotion of green areas, and upkeep of parks, social centers, and cemeteries. The local enterprises unit was divided into areas of interest, which included economic, industrial, gastronomic, and services sectors. Its wide range of responsibilities took in such varied activities as price controls, rationing, food handling, working conditions, and maintenance of utility services. The semiannual assamblea of the San José Region was attended by 244 delegates, who had been selected by the various municipalities. There were 201 of these subordinate-level meetings held in work centers, granges, and farm bases, attending by over 14,000 laborers and farm workers. Of the delegates elected, 25 were women. There were 105 industrial laborers, 43 farm workers, 59 small farmers; others were in various services.

The government is placing considerable emphasis on the training of local government officials and has planned a number of schools at various levels to provide instruction in such fields as construction, economics, organization, services, and labor control. The first of these institutions, the Nico Lopez National Party School, was opened in Havana in late 1968, with a first-course enrollment of forty-one presidents of municipal administrations. Drawn from the widespread areas of the entire country, they attended a course of twenty-five days' duration.

This training is under the supervision of the National Coordinating Committee of Local Government of the Ministry of the Interior, which is in charge of all planning and execution. Additional schools at the provincial level have been scheduled, and the first of these, called the National School for Local Government Cadres, was opened in 1969 in Las Villas Province. It was anticipated that similar institutions would be opened in the other provinces in the near future.

CHAPTER 14

POLITICAL DYNAMICS AND VALUES

Cuba had been a Communist state since 1961 and still was as of 1970. The Revolution of 1959 and the country's subsequent political development focused on it a degree of world attention disproportionate to its physical size, economy, or population, but justified by the radical nature of the changes.

The government continued to be a personal regime in which all the major decisions were made by Fidel Castro. As prime minister, first secretary of the Communist Party, and commander in chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Castro held all the reins of power, and there was little threat to his leadership. The president of the Republic was a figurehead who had no authority, and the government was administered by a Council of Ministers that was appointed by the prime minister (see ch. 13, The Governmental System). The Communist Party of Cuba (Partido Comunista de Cuba-PCC) was playing an increasing role in governing the country, but even though this gave an impression of some participation in government, the party was virtually under Castro's domination. There had been no national election since the regime came to power.

Fidel Castro set about to transform an individualistic society into one that was collectivist. In this he has met with considerable success. His alignment with the Communist states has evolved into a threat to the free world.

The government's political philosophy, economic outlook, and totalitarian methods are rooted in Castro-Marxist ideology. It has tried to play the Soviet Union and Communist China off against each other in an attempt to avoid committing itself on ideological issues. At times it has ideologically supported Communist China, but the maintenance of its Marxist structure is largely dependent on Soviet support and economic assistance. Despite its basic adherence to the Communist party line, however, the country retains a marked degree of individuality and exhibits considerable independence. It has developed a brand of communism that is not always understood or kept under control by its Soviet mentors.

The political life of the nation had always been closely tied in with the economy and, for most of the Republic's history, the economy was dominated by private foreign business interests,