-DATE-
19741024
-YEAR-
1974
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO ADDRESSES COMMITTEE TO DRAFT NEW CONSTITU
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19741025
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO ADDRESSES COMMITTEE TO DRAFT NEW CONSTITUTION

Havana Domestic Service in Spanish 1030 GMT 24 Oct 74 F

[Text] Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, first secretary of the PCC Central
Committee and prime minister, and Div Comdr Raul Castro, PCC Central
Committee second secretary and first vice prime minister, have presided
over the ceremony in which a committee was formed to draft a new
Constitution of the republic.

During the ceremony, held at the Revolution Palace, Fidel Castro said: I
believe we have sufficient elements and experience to draft a good bill. I
believe that all work done previously to institutionalize the country and
draft laws is going to help much. And we want our Constitution to be well
drafted and analyzed, and we want there to be prior extension discussion of
it by the people.

Referring to the committee, Fidel added: Once you have prepared the draft
bill and it has been analyzed by the Politburo and the Council of Ministers
Executive Committee it must be extensively discussed. It should be the most
broadly discussed of our laws so that it can than be submitted to the party
congress. The party congress and the government then will submit it to a
referendum in which all the people will participate.

Fidel Castro said that the draft bill must be completed by 24 February
1975, stressing: You must understand the enormous political, revolutionary
and historic importance of drafting a constitution for our country. It is
important not only domestically, but also internationally. And it will
allow us to end the provisional status of the revolutionary state and form
a definitive state for the future. I am certain that how good the
constitution will be will depend on how good a bill you draft. You work
will determine if other revolutionary generations will have to modify it
soon or whether it will last a long time.

PCC Central Committee Secretariat member Blas Roca Calderio, who heads the
committee responsible for drafting the constitution, then declared on
behalf of the committee: The task involves the difficulties inherent to
such a transcendental event. But responding to the honor conferred on us,
we will spare no efforts or time to draft-- with the assured guidance of
the instructions we have received--a constitution demanded by our
revolution and its history of sacrifices, heroism, deeds and successes; and
which will serve effectively to perfect our state and socialist democracy,
and to strengthen socialist legality and the victorious process of
constructing socialism in our fatherland.
-END-