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Cuban legislators have the responsibility Sunday of electing the new president of the Council of State, a position that leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro has occupied since the People”s Power National Assembly was created in 1976.

Fidel Castro had also been chairing the Council of Ministers, while holding the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Five days before the seventh legislature of the People”s Power National Assembly was constituted, the leader of the Cuban Revolution announced his decision not to aspire to or accept re-election.

It is the responsibility now of the 614 elected legislators to play the historic role of choosing, from among them, the 31 members of the Council of State through secret ballot, including its president, first vice president, five vice presidents, and the secretary.

In line with the Cuban Constitution, it is the duty of the president of the Council of State and chief of government to represent the State and government, govern general policy, organize and lead its activities, and preside over the sessions of the Councils of State and Ministers.

The president also has the powers of watching over and coping with progress of activities within the ministries and other central organisms of the State.

In the military order, the Cuban leader holds the supreme leadership of all armed institutions, agrees on their general organization, and heads the National Defense Council.

Also among the presidential powers are the approval of/ decree laws and other decisions by the Council of State, as well as legal regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers or its Executive Committee, and order their publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

Article 94 of the Cuban Constitution establishes that the president of the Council of State can be replaced in his functions by the first vice president in case of absence, illness or death.

First Vice President Raul Castro attends today the first session of the 7th legislature of the People´s Power National Assembly, in which the new Cuban Council of State is to be elected.

The seventh legislature of parliament will be constituted when the 614 deputies assume their posts to which they were elected at the second stage of general elections, held last January 20.

This is the first occasion since 1976 that Fidel Castro, leader of the Revolution, is absent from the nomination to President of the Council of State, as five days ago he announced he would not aspire or accept being reelected to that post for health reasons.

Thus the nomination and election of a new president of the highest Cuban state organ for a period of five years takes on a special relevance.

Cuba´s current government system was approved by 97,7 percent of the voters taking part in the referendum held on February 24, 1976 and on December 2 of that same year, the first legislature of the People´s Power National Assembly assumed its duties.

The constitutive session of the 7th legislature started at 10:00 local time, at the Convention Palace in this capital, under the direction of the National Electoral Commission (CEN), Maria Esther Reus.

Reus immediately began to read the list of deputies while other members of the CEN examine and validate the election certificates of each deputy.

Having done this, the head of the CEN will declare its validity, inform about the social composition of the elected deputies and once assistance is checked, the national anthem will be heard, the deputies will take the oath to their posts and sign the list, so the National Assembly is formally constituted.

The nomination and election of those who will occupy the post of President, Vicepresident and Secretary of the Parliament will follow.

After that, deputies will nominate and elect those who will assume the posts of President, First Vicepresident, Five Vicepresidents, Secretary and other members of the Council of State.

Those proposed to the high posts were taken from a list made after a wide consultation process carried out by the National Candidacy Commission (CCN), formed by representatives of civil Cuban organizations.

The president of the CCN, Amarilys Perez, will then submit to the deputies the two candidacy projects and explain the bases on which they were made.

On her part, the president of the National Electoral Commission will ask the approval by the deputies of both candidacy projects and will then carry out the election by secret and direct vote.

According to the Electoral Law, those who obtain over 50 percent of the valid votes, will be declared elected.

The Cuban Constitution establishes that “in the Republic of Cuba sovereignty lies in the people, from which stems all the power of the State.” It adds that “such power is exercised directly or through the People´s Power assemblies and the rest of the State organs derived from them, in the form and according to the norms established by the Constitution and its laws.” Also, the Council of State is the People´s Power National Assembly organ which represents it between session periods, executes the accords of parliament and carries out the rest of the functions attributed by the Constitution.

It has a consensual nature and in the domestic and international issues, holds the supreme representation of the Cuban State.

With thousands of cigar experts and lovers worldwide, the 10th Habano Festival, the largest global meeting of premium cigars, is kicking off Monday in this capital.

The opening ceremony will take place at Karl Marx Theater and the Habana Club recreational center, where participants will show cigar novelties.

Planned to exchange criteria between tobacconists and handmade cigar traders, this kind of event also has a great impact to foster the Cuban cigar.

The beginnings included promotion dinners like that carried out in 1994 in Havana’s Las Ruinas restaurant, and a year later participants delivered for a first time the Cigar Man of the Year prize, now called the Habano Award.

This gathering is made up of several events, among them a trade fair, talks, conferences, meetings, tasting trials, visits to tobacco plantations and factories, as well as the contests like Habanos-Armagnac and Habanosommelier.

However, the center of the event is in the final day or closing dinner, where there will a humidor auction with very special cigars and the granting of the Habano Award.

Cuba”s National Peoples Power Assembly elected Raul Castro Ruz on Sunday as president of the Cuban Council of State for the next five years.

The Cuban lawmakers cast their direct and secret vote this afternoon, when they also elected the nation”s first vice president and five other vice presidents.

Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, incumbent vice president of the Council of State was elected first vice president, while Juan Almeida Bosque, Julio Casas Regueiro, Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Carlos Lage Davila and Abelardo Colome Ibarra are the five vice presidents.

Jose Miguel Miyar Barrueco was reelected as Council of State secretary.

The 31-member ruling body also includes Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera, Ramiro Valdes Menendez, Pedro Saez Montejo, Luis Herrera Martinez, Iris Betancourt Tellez, Roberto Fernandez Retamar, Francisco Soberon Valdes, Felipe Perez Roque, Carlos Valenciaga Diaz and Orlando Lugo Fonte.

Thirteen members (41.9 percent) were elected for the first time - Yolanda Ferrer Gomez, Salvador Valdes Mesa, Juan Jose Rabilero Fonseca, Julio Martinez Ramirez and Maria del Carmen Concepcion Gonzalez.

Tania Leon Silveira, Regla Dayami Armenteros Mesa, Ines Maria Chapman Bou, Dignora Montano Perdomo, Zurina Acosta Brook, Guillermo Garcia Frias, Leopoldo Cintra Frias y Alvaro Lopez Miera were also among the newly-elected.

According to the chairman of the National Candidature Commission Amarilys Perez, the Cuban Revolution”s historic generation and the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party are represented in the new Council of State, as are the Young Communist League, government and state leaders and grassroots organizations.

Lawmakers from the health, science, culture and production sectors were also nominated.

The assembly session acknowledged the work performed by those who were not reelected as Council of State members.

The Cuban lawmakers expressed their support to the decision taken by the incumbent Council of State president, Fidel Castro, who, they emphasized “has led us through the path of unity and victory.” They referred to Fidel Castro as “our never defeated Commander-in-Chief, who has made Cuba National Hero Jose Marti”s dreams come true.

Vietnam s National Assembly (NA) President Nguyen Phu Trong aimed Friday to expand and enhance legislative ties with Cuba, through an exchange of experiences, visits and cooperation.

Trong expressed his proposal by welcoming Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who started today a working and friendly visit, his first to this Indochinese country.

The Vietnamese legislative leader also suggested to share and coordinate positions, criteria and experiences in international forums, like the International Parliamentary Union congresses and other meetings.

Trong reiterated the Vietnamese government and people s support for what he called the “fair Cuban cause in defense of sovereignty, independence and the Revolution s conquests.”