CUBAN REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT: [THE URBAN HOUSING ACT] LAW 135., Urrutia LLeo, Dr Manuel, and Fidel Castro.

Law 135, presented by The Cuban President Dr Manuel Urrutia LLeo, and countersigned by Primer Ministro Fidel CastLaw 135, presented by The Cuban President Dr Manuel Urrutia LLeo, and countersigned by Primer Ministro Fidel Castro, and Alfredo Yabur Maluf, Ministro de Justicia. Signed at the Palace of the President, Havana, March 10 1959 . "Ano de la Liberacion".

Urrutia LLeo, Dr Manuel, and Fidel Castro. Law 135, presented by The Cuban President Dr Manuel Urrutia LLeo, and countersigned by Primer Ministro Fidel CastLaw 135, presented by The Cuban President Dr Manuel Urrutia LLeo, and countersigned by Primer Ministro Fidel Castro, and Alfredo Yabur Maluf, Ministro de Justicia. Signed at the Palace of the President, Havana, March 10 1959 . "Ano de la Liberacion". A formal legal document, 6 typed carbon leaves, on "Republica de Cuba. Presidencia" headed paper, 4to, leaves 1-5 initialed on left margin as correct by Urrutia, Castro and Yabur, and the final leaf embellished with an official blue seal and formally signed by the three signatories. Three punch holes on the left side of each sheet, the lower punch hole with the corner wrenched, the paper lightly discolored through age.

A FINE HISTORICAL CUBAN DOCUMENT, the President of Cuba introducing Law 135, one of Castro's new Housing laws. Dr Manuel Urrutia Lleo, had been a Cuban lawyer in opposition to Batista, and was chosen by Castro as his First President in February 1959, although the power remained with Castro. Being a lawyer he created very careful and exacting documents, such as this Law 135. It was presented and signed into Cuban law on March 10, 1959, and was part of Castro's grand plan to reform every aspect of life in Cuba. Unfortunately Urrutia did not last more than 6 months as President, but Yabur Maluf, who had been appointed Minister of Justice in 1959, managed to retain his post until 1972.

When Castro gained control in February 1959, he set about breaking down the Spanish/European style of Cuban society. For Land Reform, he charged Che to get out into the countryside and redistribute the land to the poor. For the situation in the towns and cities, Castro envisaged more equality between rich and poor, through the control of property ownership and rents, and so he created a series of Urban Housing Reform Laws. Law 135, set out in 12 Articles, lays down that the Cuban Govt is responsible for the well being of the people and the provision of the basic needs, one of which is the control of housing and rents. This law reduces rents by up to 50% at a stroke, and further says that a new rental pricing code would come in by April 1959, giving more money back to the people to build a better economy. It also decreed that if you built a new house you had to live in it and you could only build if it was to benefit the State, Province or Municipality. You were not allowed to build for profit, indeed no profit making was allowed in the housing market. So at a stroke the idea of investing in property disappeared and with rural land divided and redistributed to the poorest Cubans, one of the center-pieces of a capitalist economy, the financial advantages of ownership, was completely nullified, an idea akin to the Chinese structure where the state owns everything. This document gives an insight into the mind of Castro, and his plans for a new Cuba.