President of Cuba
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The President of Cuba is the Head of State of Cuba. According to the Cuban Constitution of 1976, the President is the chief executive of the Council of State of Cuba. The president of the Council of State is, at the same time, the head of state and head of government. In cases of the absence, illness or death of the president of the Council of State, the first vice president assumes the president’s duties.
[edit] Method of election
The President of the Council of State is elected by the National Assembly of Cuba. National elections to the assembly take place every five years. The 20th and current President of Cuba is Fidel Castro. He replaced Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado in 1976, following a restructuring of the government.
[edit] Powers
The President of Cuba is invested with the power to implement the following
- Represent the state and the government and conduct their general policy;
- Organize and conduct the activities of, call for the holding of and preside over the sessions of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba;
- Control and supervise the development of the activities of the ministries and other central agencies of the administration;
- Assume the leadership of any ministry or central agency of the administration;
- Propose to the National Assembly of People’s Power, once elected by the later, the members of the Council of Ministers;
- Accept the resignation of the members of the Council of Ministers or propose either to the National Assembly of People’s Power or the Council of State the replacement of any of those members and, in both cases, to proposes the corresponding substitutes;
- Receive the credentials of the heads of delegation of foreign diplomatic missions. This responsibility may be delegated to any of the vice presidents of the Council of State;
- Assume the supreme command of all armed institutions and determine their general organization;
- Preside over the National Defense Council;
- Declare a state emergency in those cases provided for in this Constitution, stating his decision, as soon as the circumstances permit it, to the National Assembly of People’s Power or to the Council of State if the Assembly is unable to meet, according to legal effects;
- Sign decree-laws and other resolutions of the Council of State and the legal provisions adopted by the Council of Ministers or its Executive Committee, and arrange for their publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic;
- Assume all other duties assigned it by the Constitution or by law.