Cooperativismo y Desarrollo, May-August 2019; 7(2): 166-179
Translated from the original in Spanish

La cooperativa como espacio de realización del derecho de participación de los adultos mayores

Yumey Torres García¹, Orisel Hernández Aguilar²

¹Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas. Departamento de Derecho. Pinar del Río. Cuba. Email: yjz@upr.edu.cu
²Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas. Departamento de Derecho. Pinar del Río. Cuba. Email: oriselha@upr.edu.cu

Received: April 8^th, 2019.
Accepted: June 10^th, 2019.

ABSTRACT

The cooperative enterprise is being strengthened in Cuba as part of the political effort to update the Cuban model of economic and social development. That update is happening in an environment of a very aged society, and this factor has to be observed in its broadest dimension. For this reason, the following study has as objective, to value, from a psycho-social-legal perspective, the distinctive elements of the cooperative that make of this a viable space for the realization of the right of participation of the older adults. In order to comply with the proposed objective, methods specific to Legal Sciences were used, such as: legal history, legal doctrine and technical-legal analysis itself, which made possible to deal with some doctrinal and historical considerations on ageing and participation in the legal environment of the elderly, as well as the assessment of the potential of the cooperative for the socio-economic insertion of the elderly, based on the principles of vital continuity and participation that are enshrined in studies on old age.

Keywords: cooperatives; participation; older adults; ageing

RESUMEN

La empresa cooperativa está siendo potenciada en Cuba como parte del empeño político de actualizar el modelo de desarrollo económico y social cubano. Dicha actualización se lleva a cabo en los marcos de una sociedad altamente envejecida y este factor debe ser observado en su más amplia dimensión; es por ello que el siguiente estudio tiene como objetivo, valorar, desde una perspectiva psico-socio-jurídica, los elementos distintivos de la cooperativa que hacen de esta un espacio viable para la realización del derecho de participación de los adultos mayores. Para dar cumplimiento al objetivo propuesto, se utilizaron métodos propios de las Ciencias Jurídicas, tales como: el histórico jurídico, el jurídico doctrinal y el análisis técnico-jurídico propiamente dicho que permitieron abordar algunas consideraciones doctrinales e históricas sobre el envejecimiento y la participación en el ámbito jurídico del adulto mayor, así como la valoración de las potencialidades de la cooperativa para la inserción socioeconómica del adulto mayor, sustentada en los principios de continuidad vital y de participación que enarbolan los estudios sobre ancianidad.

Palabras claves: cooperativa; participación; adulto mayor; envejecimiento

INTRODUCTION

After the approval of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines at the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), held in April 2011, a group of guiding documents have been approved that mark the political course in function of the economic and social development of the country; such is the case of the Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development and the Bases of the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030; in addition, within the framework of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, the aforementioned guidelines were updated. All these documents were endorsed by the National Assembly of People's Power as the supreme organ of state power, in the sessions of June 1, 2017, which denotes the topicality and importance of the issues they address.

On the basis of these documents, a development model is being projected where all fields of action can be articulated, recognizing the economic factor as an element of vital importance in order to achieve a "sovereign, independent, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable Nation" (PCC, 2017a, p. 16).

In relation to the cooperative, in the updating of the Guidelines, it is indicated in numerals 12, 14 and 15 that progress should be made in the experiment of non-agricultural cooperatives, that regulations should be promulgated regulating all types of cooperatives and that a governmental body should be created to conduct the activity, in addition to the duty to contribute through the payment of taxes, with a view to municipal development (PCC, 2017b).

On the other hand, it is recognized as a principle that sustains the development model that "the human being is the main objective and protagonist subject; his dignity, equality and full freedom (...)" (PCC, 2017c, p. 4).

The country's demographic situation, related to the impact of the high rate of population ageing, together with economic growth, are two of the aspects to be taken into account in order to reach the expected level of development. It is for this reason that, as regards the strategic axis on human development, equity and social justice, it is stated that: One of Cuba's great challenges is population ageing, which implies important pressures on social security and the cost of providing some services, which will have an impact both on the pattern of economic growth, as the workforce becomes a relatively scarce resource, and on the structure of social services. It is essential to achieve effective levels of population participation in all areas of economic, political, social and cultural life as a fundamental principle for advancing the construction of a socialist society (PCC, 2017a, p. 21).

Later, in the Economic and Social Development Plan itself until 2030, the specific objective of human development, equity and social justice is defined as "to strengthen the protection of the elderly population and to promote their economic and social inclusion and the diversification of care services" (PCC, 2017a, p. 21).

Consistent with what has been presented in these programmatic documents and with the experiment that has been carried out since December 2012 on the implementation of non-agricultural cooperatives, the new Constitution ratified in a referendum on February 24, 2019, provides for the form of cooperative ownership based on the collective work of its owner members and the effective exercise of the principles of cooperativism, It also provides for the obligation of the State, the family and society to guarantee the full exercise of the rights of older adults and to promote their integration and social participation.

Within the framework of this scenario, it is considered pertinent to carry out research that helps to find ways, mechanisms and spaces for older adults to continue contributing to society, not only in the economic order, but from their own personal self-realization and self-esteem, they can contribute to achieve the desired quality of life.

Thus, it is proposed as an objective of this study, to value the distinctive elements of the cooperative that make this a viable space for the realization of the right of participation of older adults. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study carried out was limited to a framework of theoretical analysis on the cooperative enterprise and the right of participation of older adults, which made it possible to evaluate the possibilities that the cooperative could report as an economic actor and, from its own identity, for the socioeconomic integration of older adults in Cuba. For this purpose, theoretical-legal methods were used, based on the Legal Research Methodology by Pérez (2011).

The legal-doctrinal method was used in a transversal way in all the investigation for the organic analysis of the consulted bibliographical sources, in relation to the approached variables and their interrelation; this method allowed to identify certain patterns of behavior of the older adults, the analysis of the participation variable in the legal scope of this age group, as well as the identification of the own elements of the cooperative identity that allow to justify that this is a propitious space for the realization of the right of participation of the older adult.

The historical-legal method allowed to carry out a brief historical synthesis of the appreciation of older adults in different periods and the chronological and evolutionary study of the right of participation of older adults, based on international legal instruments and in the Cuban sphere.

In close relation with the previous methods, the analysis of purely legal content allowed the coherent, systemic and integrating interpretation of the norms approached in correspondence with their axiological content and the social historical reality investigated, in this case, the development of the cooperative and the role of the older adult in a highly aged society.

The bibliographic material used includes books by foreign and national authors representing authorities in the subject matter, as well as articles published in scientific journals. In addition, the documents of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba that mark the paths of national policy regarding the updating of the Cuban model of economic and social development, as well as other documents issued by certain international organizations, directly related to the development of the cooperative movement and the rights of the elderly, were obligatory reference material. To this are added the norms that represent the legal support of the valuations issued. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Necessary doctrinal and historical annotations on ageing

The issue of old age or elderliness transcends the boundaries of the family environment, which is in itself of transcendental importance in public order, to become the focus of attention on the part of States, when in demographic terms we speak of population ageing.

According to Dabove (2008) "population ageing is a global problem. It affects everyone: rich, poor, children, young or old, women or men, it is a truly universal problem. That is why it demands fundamental, sustainable and humanistic legal solutions" (p. 39).

The Health Promotion Department of the World Health Organization (Dabove, Prunotto Laborde, & Barnett, 2006, p. 14) has distinguished ageing as a process and the ageing process, stating that ageing as a process represents the biological, universal changes that occur with age and that are not affected by the influence of disease or the environment and the ageing process; for its part, it is influenced by the effects of the environment, lifestyle and diseases.

In correspondence with this idea, important international and national authors such as Gonem (1996), Morelli (1999), Dabove et al. (2006), Kemelmajer (2006), Delgado and Pereira (2017), agree that ageing, beyond the biological factor, has a marked historical-cultural character, so that the appreciation that has been had on the elderly and with it the protection of him, has varied from one moment to another in history.

With reference to Dabove et al. (2006) and Rositto (2011), the position of the older adult moves from a period of broad acceptance and social recognition in the Ancient Age, to a period of total rejection of his figure in public order, remaining as a simple recipient of attention and protection under the family protection in the Middle and Modern Ages. Socio-economic, political, cultural and juridical development played an important role in this transit. The aforementioned authors agree that, in recent times, the subject of old age is once again attracting public attention on the basis of serious demographic analyses, the progressive nature of human rights and the process of specifying them, together with the development of so-called social constitutionalism. In addition to these factors, the development of Bioethics as a philosophical discipline that unfolds in relation to life, health and technology within the Medical Sciences has also played an important role in what could be called the vindication of the rights of the elderly.

Ageing is a complex and multifactorial process, however, it is appropriate to point out that in the psychological order changes are perceived in the personality of older adults that affect their social behaviour; these changes have been defined by Naranjo, Figueroa and Cañizares (2015) as: dissatisfaction with life, loss of autonomy, loss of personal, family and social roles, rejection and maladjustment in old age, dissatisfaction with body image, process of isolation or decrease in human relations, among others.

These psychological changes, conditioned or not by social stereotypes and the existence of objective factors that hinder the full enjoyment of the rights of older adults, determine, to a large extent, the importance of legally pondering the participation, in a broad sense, of this age group.

Older adults and participation: international and national legal reflection of the issue

Participation has become a flag that paves the way for democracy, transparency, has historically been associated with politics, with the art of directing and making better decisions, has been associated with the possibility that all, or the majority, feel part of political decisions, especially those that affect them most directly.

The participation associated with political rights is explained from the very history of fundamental rights and their close relationship with the conception of the modern state. When talking about the antecedents and positives of individual and political rights, Nogueira (2003) explains: These rights appear first, limited to protecting the life and physical and psychic integrity of the person, freedom and security, constituting the first generation of rights, which also includes the rights of citizens to participate in public life.

Thus, the recognition of civil and political rights constitutes the end and limit of the exercise of state power and of the competences of governors and organs of public power, which implicitly or explicitly enters the legal order as a demand for human dignity in the constitutionalist movement and in the conception of the rule of law, establishing an internal limit to sovereignty and the exercise of state power (pp. 3-4).

In addition to these ideas, participation has also been studied in other spheres: social, economic, cultural, and financial, always with the perspective of its ordinary meaning of involving those who are, in one way or another, involved in the processes that are being carried out.

"Participation is not a single, stable concept referring only to the political. It is a dynamic through which citizens are involved, consciously and voluntarily, in all processes that affect them directly or indirectly" (El Troudi, Harnecker, & Bonilla, 2005, p. 8).

In the particular case of older adults, looking at the issue of participation takes on special importance, as it becomes the starting point for ratifying legal principles as important as equality, human dignity, autonomy and vital continuity at this stage of life. Thus, participation transcends the frameworks of the configuration of political rights to become a principle and guide that sustains the legal status of the elderly.

In the sphere of fundamental rights, Dabove and Pronutto (2006), following the classification criterion of Prieto Sanchís, identify, in the Argentine constitutional framework, that the rights intended for the protection of the elderly can be grouped into rights of autonomy (to life, health, freedom, equality and property), participation (to work, association, recreation, leisure and use of free time) and benefit or credit (pension, retirement, education, development) (p. 26).

In this sense, the distinction of sectors of society, with a view to the constitutional recognition of rights, is aimed precisely at trying to guarantee material equality in the face of evident inequality; it is a measure that contributes to positive discrimination, including the issue of participation and, in this, public international law has played an important role.

At the international level, the Vienna Plan of Action of 1982 is known as the starter engine in matters of care for the elderly, as an age group beyond its legal status as an individual person. From this very moment, the value of the participation of the elderly was expressly recognized, in order to achieve the goals proposed in each of the subsequent international instruments on the subject.

It should be noted that, in addition to the international character of these instruments, they are not legally binding and serve only as guiding principles or criteria for legal interpretation, with the exception of the Inter-American Convention on the Protection of the Human Rights of Older Persons, of June 15, 2015 (Dabove, 2016).

As noted, the participation of the elderly has always been a premise since the Vienna Declaration itself. Several of the principles set out in paragraph 25 of the Vienna Declaration point in this direction, as is the case with subparagraphs (a) (e) and (l). They emphasize the need for inclusion in terms of development, that the spiritual, cultural and socio-economic contributions of older persons should be recognized and encouraged, and that they should participate in the creation and implementation of policies that directly affect them.

Before the second plan of action or declaration carried out in Madrid in 2002, in 1991, the United Nations declared five principles in favour of the elderly, among which is precisely participation, in close relation, could be limited, with the rest of the principles, namely: independence, self-realization, dignity and perhaps, to a lesser extent, with that of care.

In the aforementioned Madrid Declaration of 2002, as part of the political declaration, article 5 recognizes that older adults must enjoy a full life, with health, security and active participation in the economic, social, cultural and political life of their societies, in accordance with which paragraph 12 (c) of the introduction establishes the empowerment of older persons to participate fully and effectively in the economic, political and social life of their societies, including through paid or voluntary work and paragraph 13, as the basis for the right to development; It is considered essential that older persons participate fully, without discrimination and on an equal footing.

Following this meeting in Madrid, other documents of significant importance have taken place, such as the Brasilia Declaration and the San José Charter, as a result of the work being done to achieve an International Convention on Human Rights for older persons; however, it was at the regional level, under the auspices of the Organization of American States, that an instrument of this nature was born: the Inter-American Convention on the Protection of the Human Rights of the Elderly.

Up to now, this Convention has been the juridical colophon in the international sphere with regard to the protection of the rights of the elderly and, from the very preamble, it emphasizes that the person, as he or she ages, must continue to enjoy a full, independent and autonomous life, with health, security, integration and active participation in the economic, social, cultural and political spheres of their societies; here, unlike the Madrid Declaration, independence and autonomy are incorporated. By defining, in article 1, that the object of the Convention is the promotion, protection and securing, enjoyment and exercise of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the elderly, it does so by stating that the purpose of this is precisely to contribute to the inclusion, integration and participation of these persons in society. Likewise, article 3, within the principles applicable to the Convention, includes participation, integration and full and effective inclusion in society and, specifically, in article 8, configures the right to community participation and integration, establishing that it must be active, productive, full and effective within the family, the community and society, for which the States parties must adopt the pertinent measures that favour such participation.

In Cuba, it is interesting to note that, since 1974, with a population aging index of less than 10%, there has been a National Program of Attention to the Elderly. This responds to the marked interest of the Cuban Revolution in the protection of social sectors that are traditionally more vulnerable in different aspects. Despite the fact that this Programme has been subject to periodic revisions, it still does not go beyond the sense of assistance which, in some way, is imprinted on it by the fact that it is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Health.

In the XV International Seminar on Longevity, held in 2018, Dr. Alberto Fernandez Seco, head of the department of Older Adults, Social Assistance and Mental Health of the Ministry of Public Health, explained that at the end of 2017, some 2,246,799 people were 60 years old and over, which represents 20.1% of the Cuban population and added that towards 2030 an aging index of the Cuban population of 30.3% is expected, with 3,304,685 people 60 years old and over (Fariñas, 2018).

Knowing this panorama, the Cuban State projects, as part of the economic and social policy of the country, to promote the integral and full development of human beings, declares the need to reach effective levels of participation of the population in all areas of economic, political, social and cultural life as a fundamental principle to advance in the construction of the socialist society and, within this, it traces as a specific objective to strengthen the protection of the older adult population and to promote their economic and social inclusion (PCC, 2017a, p. 21).

The Cuban constitutional text, recently approved by referendum, establishes as part of the political foundations, in article 1, that Cuba is a socialist State of law and social justice, organized with all and for the good of all, based on work, dignity, humanism and the ethics of its citizens for the enjoyment of freedom, equity, equality, solidarity, well-being and individual and collective prosperity. These become the premises that must guide not only the course of the Cuban legal system, but also the actions of authorities and citizens.

The content of articles 40, 41, 42 and 44 is worth mentioning, since, around dignity as the supreme value that sustains the recognition and exercise of rights and duties, it outlaws discrimination and commits the State to creating the conditions to guarantee equality.

With regard to older adults in particular, article 88 of the Constitution expressly provides that the State, society and families, to the extent to which they are entitled, have the obligation to guarantee the full exercise of their rights and to promote their integration and social participation.

If we look back at the international instruments, specifically dedicated to older adults and referred to above, we can perceive that the constitutional text reduces the scope of participation in this sense, to the social sphere; however, we must not forget that our older adults also form part of the "all" to whom individual and collective well-being and prosperity are owed, which becomes a handhold for the defense of their participation, based on the principle of equality and non-discrimination.

Distinctive elements of the co-operative that favor the realization of the right of participation of older adults.

The cooperative as a legal institution does not escape the analysis of its conceptualization and legal nature, since the applicable normative regime and even its own conception will depend on it to some extent. It is not the objective of the present work to deepen in these analyses and only those aspects are brought up that from their normative physiognomy allow to endorse the criterion that, having a strong participative spirit in pursuit of common interests, it is a propitious space of economic and social inclusion for the older adult.

A cooperative is a group or association of people who have voluntarily joined together to satisfy common economic, social and/or cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned, democratically controlled, autonomous and open enterprise (...), forming part of the so-called third sector because they cannot be identified as state or private, but as collective, because their management is in the hands of a collective (Cruz Reyes & Piñeiro Harnecker, 2011, pp. 25-26).

When referring to cooperative identity, Rodriguez (2017) states that: (...), cooperatives are, first and foremost, entities made up of groups of people with a common objective, which will be fulfilled on the basis of self-effort and mutual aid, giving rise to an associative space particularly conducive to strengthening one's own ethics (p. 39).

In both cases, the existence of a group of people, an associative space in the cooperative enterprise, is highlighted. This element in itself represents a profit for the elderly who, when undertaking a business whose purpose implies the satisfaction of their own needs, does not do so alone, but together with other members who have equal interests and/or needs.

On the other hand, knowing that through this company it can satisfy its interests and needs, which are in fact shared by other people, reinforces the condition of independence, self-fulfillment and self-satisfaction of the elderly, which in any way would be contributing to raising their self-esteem and the perception they have of themselves with regard to society, the family and the community.

In handling some notes to delimit a co-operative concept, Gadea (2008) places special emphasis on participation as a distinctive criterion for capitalist societies and, in this sense, states that "in order to achieve the efficiency of the co-operative system, it is necessary for co-operatives themselves to constitute authentic participative democratic structures in which their members see their needs satisfied and their visions reflected" (p.42). On this basis, the author himself sets out "three pillars" for the co-operative's participatory structure, namely:

1. The role of the member: in the co-operative, members participate not only by providing the necessary sums of capital, but also by operating as customers, in consumer co-operatives and as workers, in production co-operatives. There is no doubt that this double position of its members constitutes a characteristic of its own (although not exclusive: it also occurs, for example, in mutual insurance companies or in the mutual guarantee societies of cooperatives), which has transcendence at the legal level and, especially, in the configuration of the legal status of the member, who, for example, has the right and duty to participate in the cooperative activity.

2. Democratic management on the part of its members, based on equal partnership, which, in practice, is materialized, at least in first degree co-operatives, in the general rule that members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote).

3. The system of distribution of profits, regardless of the contribution to the capital, in proportion to the operations, services or activities carried out by each member in the entity (p.43).

The aforementioned aspects are closely related to the principles that have been defined by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) in order to identify the guidelines to be followed regarding the structure and functioning of the cooperative enterprise. These principles and also the values set out in the Declaration on Co-operative Identity at the Manchester Congress in 1995 are the elements that most emphatically enable the valuation of the co-operative as an environment conducive to rescuing the participation of the elderly.

Co-operatives are based on the following values: Self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. According to the tradition of the founders, co-operative members uphold the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and concern for others (ICA, 1996).

In the order of principles, it is set out in the Declaration itself:

First: voluntary and open association

Considering this principle from the perspective of the elderly, knowing that there is the possibility of becoming a manager of their own needs based on the autonomy of the will as a maximum, reaffirms the legal status of a person and the legal personality of that elderly adult.

In Cuba, since 2009, under the Social Security Law 105, once retired, people have the possibility of returning to work and this was one of the first significant measures related to the issue of population aging adopted by the Cuban State. However, the option of the cooperative has a different connotation, it is not a possibility of rejoining, with limitations to occupy a position that represents the same position as before, because he has retired, but it is something new that can begin without retirement or age being an aspect that transcends, it has a sense of alternative. In addition, the very conception of the cooperative surpasses the necessary much more rigid structural organization in the state business system where, no matter how much participation workers have in the management and management of the company, it already has predetermined and planned its purpose, the human resources it needs, its administrative and management structures, its disciplinary and salary regime, among other aspects that, in the cooperative, are designed by the people involved, according to the needs to be covered and according to the interests to be satisfied, which do not necessarily coincide with those of the state company that responds to a general and collective interest. To all this is added the distance between the conception of employment and the cooperative association.

It is important to point out that in function of this principle, what has been defended in the present study is that once a culture has been reached about the cooperative and its functioning, it can be understood, within the framework of a highly aged society such as ours, as an alternative for satisfying needs, also for the elderly. It is not mentioned that there are positive discrimination measures in this sense, in favour of the elderly, but that they can know of the existence of this possibility as an option in their life projects for this new stage.

Second: democratic control by members

As an expression of equality among associates, "one associate-one vote", this principle makes it possible for the voice of the older adult to be heard without prejudice, with equal value to the rest, in addition, it imposes the challenge of participating, expressing an opinion, being part of the decisions, collectively building the present and future of the company.

Third: economic participation

In this sense, it should be pointed out that, although the contribution of each of the members is a requirement for the constitution of the cooperative, this capital will be a capital of collective management and the surpluses that may be distributed will be in correspondence with the operations carried out with the entity, in proportion to the work carried out and not in function of the capital contributed.

This contributes to the fact that the elderly person who does not have the same or better economic solvency can also associate, or even perceive better profits provided that the valuation of the contribution made to the business activity so merits.

Fourth: autonomy and independence

As part of the co-operative, all members must ensure that the independence of the co-operative is maintained, but without ignoring the need for interrelation with other production and service entities.

Once the cooperative space has been won, it is assumed that the older adult will play an important role in defending the aforementioned independence, since losing the identity as a cooperative means functioning under other canons, the greater of the times where capital value reigns and where the equal participation of those involved is not necessarily favoured.

Fifth: education, training and information

This is an area in which, on the one hand, the experience and empirical and/or scientific wisdom of the older adult can play a leading role and, on the other hand, can allow him to continue preparing and acquire new knowledge, which would result in the perception of the self-esteem of this older adult who realizes that he can still learn and put that learning into practice.

Sixth: cooperation among cooperatives

Seventh: concern for the community

These last two principles particularly affect the fact that the elderly does not ignore other spaces such as the community and do not limit themselves to the socialization of the cooperative, but rather remain an active participant in the search for solutions to the common problems in which the cooperative company operates.

Related to the involvement in aspects of the life of the community, there is another aspect that also characterizes the cooperative and is the definition of its social responsibility, so, those older adults, loaded with experiences and knowledgeable of their environment, could contribute to solving needs of the community, from their condition of cooperativists.

The high humanist character that these values and principles imprint on the cooperative entity, where man and his capacities are the raison d'être of the business activity, constitutes an essential starting point for the elderly to find in the cooperative a space in which they can participate, feel useful and contribute, as long as their physical and mental conditions allow it.

These principles, defined by the ICA, find their normative reflection in Cuba since 2012, when Decree Law No. 305 on Non-Agricultural Cooperatives comes into force. Article 4 of this Decree contains the principles of voluntariness, cooperation and mutual aid, collective decision-making and equal rights of members, autonomy and economic sustainability, cooperative discipline, social responsibility, contribution to the planned development of the economy and to the well-being of members and their families.

A look at the number of older adults incorporated into the Non-Agricultural Cooperatives in the province of Pinar del Río (see table 1), indicates that this option can still be more exploited by these older adults depending on their contribution, participation and own benefit; for which it is then required, in some way, to strengthen the culture of cooperativism.

Table 1 - List of members over 60 in non-agricultural cooperatives in Pinar del Río

First Grade Non-Agricultural Cooperatives	Date of registration	Members over 60 years of age
Cooperative Atelier “La Moda” San Luis	16 /9/2013	2
Cooperative Taller De Electrónica Hermanos Cruz	19/9/2013	1
Ornithological Cooperative of Cuba Pinar Del Río	19/9/2013	8
“Restaurant Cielo Azul Cooperative”	23/9/2013	1
El Clavel Cooperativa	24/9/2013	-
Shoe Repair Workshop “Estrella Roja”	24/9/2013	-
Non-Agricultural Production and Restoration of Furniture and Real Estate Cooperative	26/9/2013	3
First degree non-Agricultural Cooperative Combinado Industrial Pinar Del Río	27/9/2013	2
Non-Agricultural Cooperative of Production and Services “Francisco Hernández Macurán”	30/9/2013	1
Non-Agricultural Cooperative Casa Colonial	9/12/2013	-
Non-Agricultural Cooperative Café Pinar	4/6/2014	-
First Degree Non-Agricultural Cooperative for the Recovery of Waste of Viñales	30/9/2014	-

In our country, as we mentioned above, the new constitutional text foresees the cooperative in article 22 paragraph b), as a form of property that is sustained in the collective work of its owner-members and in the effective exercise of the principles of cooperativism. Thus, enjoying constitutional supremacy, the minimum elements are defined, now it remains to comply with the uniform legal regime of the agricultural and non-agricultural cooperative sector, to end the experimental character in the implementation of non-agricultural cooperatives and to reinforce the culture of the cooperative through an arduous educational work. These elements would become, per se, a guarantee for the realization of the right of participation of the older adult.

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