Alarcon spoke in a meeting of parliament in Havana in which the provisional Commission for Constitutional and Legal Affairs was established, reported the Granma newspaper.

"Surveys carried out show poor knowledge of the role of delegates, deputies, and of parliament itself," said Alarcon. "Correcting this takes more school education on the subject and greater effort in promoting awareness of the laws," he stressed.

"The media is one of the main ways to increase civic education, by keeping the public informed of their rights and their social and political duties," added the parliament's president.

"The Commission for Constitutional and Legal Affairs will play a significant role in the actions and changes underway in Cuba towards a stronger form of socialism and a more efficient society," said Alarcon.

The commission is made up by 30 deputies, with University of Havana Law Department Dean Jose Luis Toledo Santander serving as president; Communist Party Central Committee Organization Department undersecretary Joaquin Bernal Rodriguez as vice-president; and with the secretary to be Elba Martinez Amador, the undersecretary of the Army's Law Department.

(RHC-ACN)