More Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves and hire their own workers as the government tries to create more productive employment, Cuban President Raul Castro said on Sunday.
The move could be a significant change in a country where the state controls 90 percent of the economy and the biggest complaint is about monthly salaries equivalent to US$18.
Castro, speaking to the National Assembly, said the steps were aimed at creating jobs for 1 million excess workers said to be burdening the Cuban economy and who are expected to be laid off over the next five years.
The measure eliminates “various existing prohibitions for the granting of new licenses and the commercialization of some production, giving flexibility to the hiring of labor,” he said.
He did not say how many people would get self-employment licenses, which do exist, but in small numbers. A substantial, but unknown number of Cubans work privately without a license.
It was Castro’s latest tweak to Cuban communism and it could be the most important if it includes a large number of people and stays in force.
A similar measure was taken in the 1990s when Cuba’s economy plummeted after the fall of its close ally, the Soviet Union, but when things improved, many licenses were not renewed.
Castro has previously taken steps to make agriculture more efficient and to allow barbers and taxis to operate more like small businesses.
For the past two years, Cuba has been in the grips of an economic crisis that has forced it to cut imports, freeze the Cuban bank accounts of foreign businesses and hold off on paying its bills.
A number of Cubans said they welcomed the change.
One of them, teacher Victor Fonseca, said: “It’s a measure that’s going to be popular. During all these years, there have been go-getters who want to move forward and this is an opportunity to fulfill their dream of having a small business.”
Cuba analyst Christopher Sabatini at the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington was more reserved, saying: “These are reforms on the margin that don’t address the fundamental inefficiency of the Cuban economy.”
Castro also spoke about US-Cuba relations, saying “in essence, nothing has changed” since US President Barack Obama took office.
“Although there’s less rhetoric and there are occasional bilateral conversations about specific and limited topics, in reality, the embargo continues,” he said, referring to the longstanding US trade embargo against Cuba.
Turning heads as they cruise past office buildings and malls, driverless taxis are slowly spreading through Chinese cities, prompting both wariness and wonder. China’s tech companies and vehicle manufacturers have poured billions of dollars into self-driving technology over the past few years in an effort to catch industry leaders in the US. Now the central city of Wuhan boasts one of the world’s largest networks of self-driving cars, home to a fleet of more than 500 taxis that can be hailed on an app just like regular rides. At one intersection in an industrial area of Wuhan, AFP reporters saw at least five
China and Vietnam yesterday inked 14 documents spanning cross-border railways to crocodile exports after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with new Vietnamese leader To Lam in Beijing. The Vietnamese president’s visit to Beijing, his first overseas trip since becoming the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam earlier this month, signals a desire between the two communist neighbors to strengthen ties, amid growing trade and investment, despite occasional clashes over boundaries in the South China Sea. “China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and supports Vietnam in adhering to the party leadership, taking the socialist
A former Saudi Arabian official alleged in a report that the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s years-long, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published yesterday by the BBC, but the kingdom has described him as “a discredited former government official.” Al-Jabri, a former Saudi Arabian intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been a years-long dispute with the kingdom as
‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’: Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges were assisting with emergency cases as more than 1 million doctors were expected to strike Hospitals and clinics across India yesterday turned away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals began a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata. More than 1 million doctors were expected to join the strike, paralyzing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases. The strike, which began at 6am, cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, the Indian Medical Association said in a statement. The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied