The Congress
"Cuba CON-PARA": II International Congress of Comparative and Constitutional Law
The science of comparative law is a dynamic and essential field for understanding legal complexities in a globalized world. In this context, we are pleased to invite you to the 2nd International Congress on Comparative and Constitutional Law, "Cuba CON-PARA 2026", to be held in Havana from February 3 to 6, 2026, at its traditional venue, the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.
This second edition builds on the success of the first, held in April 2023, and draws from its positive experiences. As such, it expands its scope to include private law, always from a comparative perspective. Cuba CON-PARA 2026 offers a space for academic dialogue, knowledge exchange, and critical reflection on the most pressing challenges of contemporary constitutionalism. It also aims to establish itself as a pluralistic and transdisciplinary forum in Cuba, where professors, researchers, students, and professionals in Law and Political Science from around the world can engage in discussions across seven key thematic sessions. These include updates on forms of state, the challenges of the welfare state, and new legal paradigms surrounding the human and post-human. As part of the congress, a commemorative session will be dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Cuba’s first socialist Constitution of 1976.
The congress will feature keynote lectures and selected presentations, which must be delivered in person. Sessions will also be available via streaming, ensuring participation for those unable to attend physically. Accepted languages for contributions are Spanish, English, and Italian.
The congress is organized by the Faculty of Law at the University of Havana, with support from prestigious academic institutions in Europe and Latin America. It will be an exceptional opportunity to enrich legal debate, foster collaboration, and enjoy the culture and hospitality of Havana and its people.
We look forward to your valuable presence and contribution to make "Cuba CON-PARA 2026" a landmark event in the study of constitutional and comparative law.
Warm regards,
Dr. C. Yan Guzman Hernández & Dr. C. Silvia Bagni
Coordinators of Cuba CON-PARA 2026
Working sessions
The congress has been structured into seven working sessions covering the most important areas of constitutional interest. They aim to focus on problems or profiles that have not yet been debated or that require a broader scope of interpretation, thereby positioning the congress within a critical pluriverse, with new creative energies.
Session 1 – Key Elements for Updating the Classification of State Forms
Cuba’s 2019 Constitution defines in Article 1 the form of the state as “socialist based on law and social justice.” However, neither doctrine nor jurisprudence has significantly clarified the meaning and necessary content of this new formula. The definition potentially introduces innovation within the socialist model, which today lacks substance and appears far from the original ideals of socialism.Beyond socialist state forms, recent waves of constitutionalism also emphasize defining the form of the state. For example, Ecuador’s Constitution refers to the state as “constitutional based on rights and justice,” using “rights” in plural—highlighted by both doctrine and case law as a significant evolution in state form.
Discussion Topics: - Do traditional state categories still explain contemporary constitutional phenomena? - Is it time to update classifications with new defining elements? - What role do constitutional self-definitions play? - In comparative perspective, how do we reconcile formal and material constitutions in defining state forms? - Can current models account for the distinct ways institutions circulate between countries?
Session 2 – Cryptotypes and Non-Traditional Formants in Defining the Legal Phenomenon
Rodolfo Sacco’s notions of "cryptotypes" and "formants" have enabled comparative law to become an autonomous discipline, illuminating the legal pluralism found worldwide.Comparative lawyers often work with normative variables rooted in widely varying legal and extra-legal contexts. Still, they may remain trapped in Western legal culture frameworks. Modern complexity has elevated less-considered formants—economic, scientific-technological, and military.
In socialist traditions like Cuba’s, the ideological-political formant is key to understanding legal systems. Yet other crucial formants—such as the U.S. embargo or migration laws—have received little doctrinal attention despite their significant impact, as in Venezuela. Other examples include: - environmental law, Western science, and Indigenous scientific thought; - international commercial law and the economic formant; - self-determination and diplomatic/military formants; - media influence in the context of coups.
Guiding Questions: - Which formants covertly shape legal phenomena in today’s world?
Session 3 – Rethinking the Welfare State in Light of Economic-Social Rights Failures and Setbacks
Economic and social inequality continues to grow. None of the Sustainable Development Goals have been met, making 20th-century welfare state ideals elusive. Recent doctrinal focus on “new rights” contrasts with continued demand for basic first- and second-generation rights.Some European countries’ policies on migrant rejection and externalization—apparently supported by the EU—violate the revolutionary principle of fraternity and constitutional obligations of solidarity.
Discussion Topics: - Is it viable to speak of a State governed by law or a welfare state if labor rights are unprotected? - Can war-driven fiscal and budgetary policies coexist with solidarity-based economies?
- Are basic service privatizations compatible with constitutional states? - Do property rights still face functional limits enforced by the state and market?
- How should the "right to care"—as proposed in Chile’s constitutional draft—be defined in constitutional and private law?
Session 4 – Beyond Legal Personhood: Human, Non-Human, Transhuman, and Posthuman
Technology’s rapid development challenges law and legal scholars. Concepts like legal personhood, personality rights, freedom of expression, and privacy must be revisited in light of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI also affects governance—via e-government or smart cities.There’s an urgent need to broaden the concept of the rights-holding subject to address intergenerational and interspecies justice amid climate, energy, and ecological crises.
Guiding Questions: - How far can we go in recognizing new rights-holders? - What principles justify expanding the definition (sentient beings, embodied entities, those who feel pain)? - How do legal traditions influence constructing new legal subjects?
- How flexible is the idea of subjective rights? - What limits should be placed on the use and development of emerging technologies?
Session 5 – The Legacy of Roman Private Law and European Codes in Latin American Legal Systems Within the Globalized Economy
Roman law arrived in Latin America and the Caribbean with European colonizers, who used it to justify the subjugation of Indigenous peoples—whose classification as part of the human species created by the Christian God was hotly debated among scholars in Salamanca. Thus began a process of legal transplantation, although the early Laws of the Indies allowed Indigenous communities to retain their own customs. During the independence period, this phenomenon gained strength with the influence of 19th-century civil codes that circulated across the Americas. These codes were adopted as models by Creole jurists to develop the “new” legal systems of the newly independent countries. Their adoption also meant embracing liberal European principles and concepts, often without the accompanying social and economic conditions. As a result, key institutions—such as contract law, administrative law, and civil procedural law—frequently malfunctioned, failing to protect legal relations that differed substantially from their European counterparts.Core Questions: - Could this help explain the degeneration of liberal democracy in the region and the rise of populist systems in both public and private spheres—such as the cases of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil or Javier Milei in Argentina? - How did the Chilean "Chicago Boys" experiment become a template for neoliberal economic models across Latin America?
Session 6 – The Actors in Constructing a Just Society: Legislators and Judges Between Cooperation and Conflict
The “juristocracy” described by Ran Hirschl, alongside the spread of neo-constitutional ideas, sparked decades of critical debate in the West about judicial roles and activism.In countries where democracy remains fragile or is affected by corruption—common in many Global South jurisdictions—the judge’s role is essential for the constitutionalization and axiologization of the legal system from the Constitution itself. This represents a major challenge for legal practitioners.
Exploratory Topics: - Nearly a century after the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, what instruments and arguments define the relationship between judge and legislator in a balanced, coherent rule-of-law system? - How should judicial reform proposals, such as Mexico’s recent initiative to directly elect judges by popular vote, be evaluated from a comparative law perspective?
Special Session – Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Cuba’s 1976 Constitution
This session will welcome contributions that propose diachronic comparative analyses between Cuba's 1976 Constitution and the current 2019 Constitution. Emphasis may be placed on areas of continuity, rupture, integration, inspiration, and implementation.Scientific committee
Lucio Pegoraro
Professor of Comparative Public Law in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, affiliated professor at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, and honorary doctorate holder from three Latin American universities. He has published various monographs and textbooks on Comparative Law; together with A. Rinella, he co-authored a treatise on Comparative Constitutional Law, published by Giappichelli in Turin and Astrea in Buenos Aires (Science and Method, Constitutional Systems, two volumes, also available in Brazilian Portuguese, Constitution and Sources of Law, Constitutional Justice). He is the author of approximately 400 essays, articles, and other writings published in books and journals from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, France, England, and in volumes released in Mexico and Chile. He serves as coordinator of the Centro Studi sull'America Latina (Bologna), is a member of the French selection of the IIDC, and participates in several European and Latin American associations.
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Tania Groppi
Professor of Public Law at the University of Siena, where she also teaches Comparative Law. She has led and continues to lead national and international research projects on constitutional justice, constitutional democracy, judicial dialogue, federalism, and local autonomy. She serves as an expert for the Council of Europe on local democracy. She has participated in institutional strengthening initiatives in Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tunisia. She is the author of more than 200 articles and books.
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Rolando Tarchi
Professor of Comparative Public Law at the Department of Jurisprudence of the University of Pisa, since 1995. He chairs the Association of Comparative and European Public Law since 2019. He is Member by right of the Conference of Associations and Societies Italian scientists. He belongs to the Scientific Committee of Diritto magazines European Public Comparison–Dpce online, Osservatorio sulle fonti.it, Rassegna diritto pubblico european. In addition, he serves as a peer reviewer for various scientific journals and editorial series.
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Salvatore Sica
Professor of Private Law at the University of Salerno, he holds the chairs of Private Law Institutions (Department of Legal Sciences) and Cloud Technology Law (Department of Informatics). He also teaches Civil Law and Sports Law at the University of Salerno. He is legal advisor to the Minister of Culture on copyright and related rights, intangible rights, and digitalization. He also chairs the Permanent Advisory Committee on Copyright. He is the author of numerous books and essays on a wide variety of private and comparative law topics, including civil liability, contracts, new technologies, and legal policy. He also serves on the committees of scientific journals, edits "Culture and Law" and "Civil Law Comparative," and is co-editor of "Comparazione and Civil Law." Since 2021, he has chaired the Italian Association of Comparative Law and is a founding member of the IAIC (Italian Academy of Internet Code).
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Barbara Pozzo
Barbara Pozzo is Full Professor of Private Comparative Law at the University of Insubria in Como. She holds the UNESCO Chair on Gender equality and Women’s Rights in the Multicultural Society. She sits in the Council of the European Law Institute and in the Board of the European Law Faculties Association. Her research focuses on comparative law methodologies, sustainability issues, gender equality, legal linguistics.
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Andry Matilla Correa
Doctor of Legal Sciences (University of Havana, 2005). Full Professor of Administrative Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Havana. Full Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences (ACC). Among other academic and scientific institutions, he is a Founding Member of the International Association of Administrative Law (AIDA) and the International Institute of Administrative Law (IIDA); Member of the Ibero-American Forum on Administrative Law (FIDA); and President of the Cuban Section of the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Law (IIDC). He has served as a visiting professor at universities and institutions in Cuba, Europe, and Latin America. He has participated as a lecturer and speaker at events both in Cuba and abroad. He is the author or co-author of books and articles published nationally and internationally. He has received national and international awards and honors. He has been decorated as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France) and with the Carlos J. Finlay Order (Cuba). He is currently Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Havana.
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Martha Prieto Valdés
Professor Emeritus of the University of Havana and Head (Professor) Constitutional Law, General Theory of Law, Legal Sociology and Comparative Legal Studies of the Faculty of Law of the same college. She serves as vice president of the Scientific Society of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the National Union of Jurists of Cuba and coordinator of the Section of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. She has published numerous articles for scientific journals and collective works.
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Carlos Manuel Villabella Armengol
Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Camaguey. He has postdoctoral studies at the University of Oviedo and the University of Valencia in Spain. He integrates various academic networks internationally. He has been a guest lecturer at various universities and institutions from Europe and Latin America. He has published numerous scientific works between articles, chapters and personal work.
Carlo Colapietro
Full Professor of Public Law at the University of Roma Tre. He is a member of the University's Board of Directors and Director of the European Interdepartmental Research Centre for Advanced Studies on Digital Innovation (Innovation Digital European Advanced Studies - IDEAS) at the University of Roma Tre. From 2020 to 2022 he was Vice-President of the Pisa Group Association. He is the author of numerous publications on government and public administration, sources of law, constitutional justice, fundamental rights and rights related to new technologies.
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(Teodoro) Yan Guzman Hernández
Full Professor of Constitutional Law and Theory of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana, judge of the Family and Civil Chamber of the Provincial Court of Havana. He integrates the Cuban section of the Ibero-American Law Society of Constitutional Law. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Council of the Prosecutor's Office General of the Republic and of the Group of consultation and scientific advice and innovation of the auxiliary offices of the National Assembly of Power Popular. He belongs to the International Committee of the Diritto Pubblico Magazine European ed comparato and the Editorial Scientific Committee of Isegoría, Collana of Science Sociali.
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Silvia Bagni
Full Professor in Comparative Public Law in the Department of Political and Social Sciences from the University of Bologna, in Italy. She has a research doctorate in Constitutional Law from the same University in 2005. She is a member of the United Nations Program United “Harmony with Nature”; she is a founding member of the Centro studi sull'America latina of the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna and member of the Italian section of the Institute Ibero-American of Constitutional Law. She co-directs the General Magazine Comparative Public Law "Iustel" of Spain.
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Alejandro González Monzón
Full Professor of Philosophy of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Havana, and professor at the Judicial Training School of the People's Supreme Court. He holds a Doctorate in Legal Sciences from the University of Havana and a Doctorate in Public Law from the University of Paris Nanterre (France). He earned a Master’s degree in Constitutional and Administrative Law from the University of Havana and a Master’s in Global Law and Constitutional Democracy from the Universities of Genoa and Girona. He serves as Secretary of the Editorial Board of the Cuban Law Review and of the Cuban Society of Constitutional and Administrative Law of the National Union of Cuban Jurists. He chairs the National Commission of Young Jurists of the National Union of Cuban Jurists. He is also a Junior Associate of the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
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Giuseppe Donato
Researcher in Constitutional and Public Law at the University of Messina, holding the title of Associate Professor and serving as Director of Voci Costituzionali. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles published in academic journals on topics such as political parties, neo-fascism, law and new technologies, and the intersection of law and science. In 2023, he published a monograph titled Modello costituzionale dei partiti politici e sindacato giurisdizionale. He contributed to the updated editions of T. Martines’ manual Diritto costituzionale (2022, 2024), and co-edited the volume Principi e istituzioni nelle trasformazioni socioculturali (2025).He has undertaken teaching and training residencies abroad, including in Portugal, Germany, Spain, and the United States. He serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals (Diritti regionali, Queste istituzioni, Le Regioni, Gruppo di Pisa, Rivista AIC), and is actively involved in organizing the Master’s program in Parliamentary and Assembly Institutions at the University of Messina.
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Melissa Cepero Lantigua
Assistant Professor of Economic Law and Director of the Department of Legal and International Advisory Services at the Faculty of Law, University of Havana. She holds a Master’s degree in Constitutional and Administrative Law, as well as in Economic Law, both from the University of Havana, where she is currently pursuing her doctoral studies. She previously served as a non-permanent professional judge at the People's Court of Havana, handling cases of a commercial nature.
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Pedro Daniel Barbachán Betancourt
Instructor of Administrative Law at the same institution. He is currently enrolled in the 8th edition of the Master’s program in Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Havana.
Daniela Baly Toledo
Graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Havana in 2025. She has undergone professional training and currently teaches Civil Law at the same institution.
Adão Gonga Xirimbimbi
Bachelor's degree in Law and Master's degree in Constitutional and Administrative Law from the University of Havana. Currently working as an administrative assistant at the Embassy of the Republic of Angola in Cuba. Additional training in “Integrity, Transparency, and the Fight Against Corruption” - Colombian Civil Service; “The Harvard Method of Negotiation” - European Postgraduate Institute; “Constitutional Democracy and the Legitimacy of the Legal Professions” - Center for Constitutional Studies of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico. Publications of articles on the Republic of Angola.
Simone Barbareschi
Assistant Professor in Constitutional and Public Law at the Department of Business Economics of the Roma Tre University. In 2020 he obtained his PhD in "Public, comparative and international law" at La Sapienza di Roma. He is the author of publications on the topics of constitutional justice, fundamental rights and the Italian form of government.
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