The Cuban Revolution Today: Proposals of Changes, Scenarios, and Alternatives 53
The historical leadership maintains undisputed hegemony in the con-
text of an expanded consensus that prevents the crystallization of a
political alternative pole with mass support.
The adoption of the following policy alternatives (among others)
by the Cuban leadership would contribute to the consolidation of the
model: (1) constitutional reform to establish and guarantee the
required political and economic changes; (2) nomination of all candi-
dates for provincial delegates and for representatives to the National
Assembly directly by municipal assemblies (today only half of these
candidates are nominated directly by the people, while half are nomi-
nated by provincial and national commissions); (3) nomination of can-
didates for president of the Council of State by members of the
National Assembly and the election, by secret ballot, of the president
by the people (this implies a modification of the current indirect elec-
tion by the National Assembly); (4) broad dissemination of a report
on the handling of the proposals of the Cuban people with regard to
measures for improving socialism on the island and the timetable for
adopting them, if possible, in the short and medium term; (5) employ-
ment of multiple criteria in visualizing the conflict and questioning of
the current order from diverse positions (revolutionary or not) as a
necessary challenge, just as at the beginning of the revolution, in the
process of building a new consensus; (6) elimination of any form of
exclusion and discrimination for reasons of race, religion, age, sex, or
other (this means adopting policies of affirmative action in relation to
the black and mulatto population, homosexuals, women, members of
religious groups, and others who have been excluded); (7) extension
of participation in the state and in the party not only in the discussion
and implementation of decisions but also in the process through
which they are adopted; (8) further extension of freedom and creative
facilities for intellectuals;^34 (9) extension to the maximum of the facili-
ties to travel and to migrate by improving current legislation and
adopting other measures (free entry into the country for all holders of
Cuban passports and for all citizens of Cuban origin without pending
cases in the judicial system, independently of their profession and the