Polygyny, though allowed, is infrequent and confined to the wealthy. Infanticide is known and, in the past, albino infants were frequently put to death. Although it appears to be dying out, the most notable life crisis ceremony is the girl's puberty ceremony. Above the household level Cuna village organization is marked by incipient economic stratification. Knowledge of Cuna tradition is still an important determinant of status and is the basis on which village chiefs are elected by the adult men to lifetime terms.
Chiefs have a number of assistants, the number varying with the needs of the village.
The authority of the chief depends more on his ability to persuade than on his office. Decisions on communal activities are reached in meetings of all adult males. Chiefs also hold singing meetings in which they relate Cuna history and exhort villagers to behave properly. Social control is largely on the informal level, and disputes are settled by the interested parties. It is likely that in aboriginal times the village was the highest level of integration.