Strong Man's Law

Setting aside Cuba's democratic 1940 constitution, Fulgencio Batista, the country's boss since the March 10 revolution, last week handed down a formula by which he expects Cuba to live for the next 20 months. The rules, listed in 275 articles of a "constitutional law," were as rigid as a set of military orders.

All political parties were dissolved. Congress, by being left unmentioned, was suspended (though Congressmen will go on drawing their pay). The freedoms of press speech and assembly and the right of habeas corpus were guaranteed, but the guarantees were handily voided by an article providing that such rights may be suspended "at any time necessary for the security of the state." They were immediately suspended.

Nevertheless, the constitutional law set a date for its own demise: it provided for general elections on Nov. 15, 1953. By then, political parties will be re-established on Batista's terms. The voters will choose 1) a President, 2) a Congress, and 3) a constitution.

Until elections, the normal legislative powers of Congress will be held by Batista's cabinet, advised by a consultative council of whatever elder statesmen Batista can get to collaborate. The law also gave the cabinet another function: the selection of a Provisional (i.e., nonelected) President. The cabinet needed only a few minutes to select tough, smiling Fulgencio Batista.

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