Cuban Political System

Did you know that Fidel Castro is the longest serving head of government who has held the premier postiion in the government and politics of Cuba since 1976?  Well in fact he has been in power since January 1, 1959.  That seems like a very long time, almost two generations now of cubans that has not known a different president than the Castros.

Like in China, there is only one political party in Cuba, the Comunis Party of Cuba, which is the only and oldest party does not allow any other party or opposition at all.  You can only imagine what is done to the opposition in a country like Cuba, torture, jail, death.
Cuban Political Map
In Cuba like in China, elections are held, but the people really only vote for their local representatives.  Cuba is divided into 14 provinces  with a total of 165 municipalities.  People in cuba vote for their local municiality representative, this happens every two years and a half.



As I remember as a little girl, election time was a big deal in Cuba.  Everybody was involved (even those who didn't support the government), even kids where involved.  We, the kids, were sent to the voting places to gurd the votes.  One kid with their school uniforms in each side of the "voting box" to gurd it.  Everything was a symbol, a way to indoctrinate the kids from an early age.  Hypocrecy by the government to hold elections, when in fact, at the end of the day only one name was in the presidential valot. 
As we learned in our class about China, Cuba is a lot like that.  If people didn't join this hyprotical event "elections" they could face terrible consecuences.