Photo: Panchito González

By María Josefina Arce.

Once again, Cubans have the opportunity to express their opinions and suggestions on a future legislation of the country, in this case referring to social communications, which addresses in an integrated manner all areas of that sphere.

From now on, citizens can access the draft bill, in its 32nd version, on the Ministry of Justice's website, in addition to the fact that, as usual, all possible means have been made available to facilitate the participation of the people in the consultation.

Thus, e-mails, telephone numbers, as well as the social networks of various institutions have been made available to the society.

This text was arrived at after a process of several years of study of various documents to achieve a robust, strategic and timely law. More than 300 Cuban regulations from the 19th century were analyzed, but texts from the Institute of History's collections were also taken into consideration.

The Cuban experience has been reconciled with the international experience in order to shape the preliminary draft. Hence, documents on communication from most Latin American nations and other regions of the world have been examined.

It should also be noted that norms of the United Nations and the World Intellectual Property Organization have been taken into account, as well as literature on the subject and international standards on transfer and access to information.

It has been an exhaustive work in order not to leave out any important detail. According to the experts, it has been achieved that for the first time in Cuba a legislation has been integrated in the communication system, media, advertising and country brand, among other aspects.

Jorge Legañoa Alonso, vice-president of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, clarified that the document does not seek to restrict or limit, but rather to offer greater opportunities, while opening the way for an effective relationship between the press, institutions and sources of information.

During the presentation of the text to the press, it was emphasized that it is in tune with the country's institutionalization process and with the notion of the citizen as the center of communication.

The participation of the citizens, accustomed to express their criteria and suggestions on laws and documents that will govern life in a country distinguished by its participatory democracy, will undoubtedly be enriching.

Opinions are taken into account and analyzed one by one by the drafting committee of the different documents, so as not to leave out, nor without a due response, the observations of society, the main addressee of the communication.