Draft Family Code addresses status of transnational families

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 16 (ACN) Transnational families, for which there are provisions in the new draft Family Code, respond to strong, stable and lasting bonds of affection, said Maria Ofelia Rodriguez Soriano, a researcher at the Center for Demographic Studies of the University of Havana.

“Not all families with members abroad fall into this category; only those perceived as a common unit even if their members live in different countries,” she explained. “This has an impact on the redistribution of roles within the family, as well as on long-distance couple relationships,

caregiving services and household reorganization when parents emigrate and the children’s grandparents or other relatives have to look after them. That’s why we are devising strategies and ways to preserve unity within the family and guarantee its fundamental functions.”

The transnational family is not a new phenomenon, but it has become a noticeable issue because of the globalization of economic processes, the dynamics of the new communication technologies, and capital flows in today’s world, she added.

The preservation of close ties between relatives is a typical feature of Cuban families, beyond the issue of the money remittances. Hence their key role in the country’s socio-cultural reality, in which the émigrés are no exception, Rodríguez Soriano concluded.