A look at past Cuban Communist Party congresses

Posted on Friday, 04.15.11

A look at past Cuban Communist Party congresses
The Associated Press

Cuba's Communist Party, the only political party permitted on the
island, gathers April 16-19 to consider major free-market economic
reforms and to elect a new leadership. The party is supposed to convene
every five years, but more than 13 years have passed since the last one
in October 1997. Past congresses have often been held at pivotal moments
in Cuba's history.

The following is a look back at the five previous such gatherings:

- Dec. 17-22, 1975: Ten years after the party's creation, delegates
re-ratifed Fidel and Raul Castro as the organization's top two leaders -
as has occurred in every gathering since. Then-President Fidel Castro
acknowledged economic mistakes. The Congress lent support to a new
constitution that established the Communist Party as the guiding power
behind the state.

- Dec. 17-20, 1980: The discussion again centered on economic woes two
months after the Mariel Boatlift, when 125,000 people fled for Florida
after Fidel Castro said the revolution did not need nonbelievers.

- Feb. 4-7, 1986: The debate focused on errors made in economic
management, and the party expressed solidarity with the international
socialist community and particularly the Soviet Union, Cuba's
all-important ally and the source of billions in aid and preferential trade.

- Oct. 10-14, 1991: On the eve of the USSR's formal dissolution, the
party convened in the eastern city of Santiago. The party braced for the
impending "Special Period," when the end of Soviet largesse caused
extreme hardship and acute food shortages. Farmers' markets and some
independent work are authorized. Officially atheist until now, the party
decided to open up membership to the faithful.

- Oct. 8-10, 1997: Held as the country emerged from near-economic ruin,
Fidel spoke of Cuba's "bitter struggle" to survive in the face of
Washington's trade embargo and the then year-old Helms-Burton Act, which
strengthened the sanctions. He acknowledged that GDP plummeted 34
percent following the fall of the USSR.

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