Cuba will allow more self-employed: Castro

President Castro says more Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves.

Havana: More Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves and hire their own workers as the government tries to create more productive employment, President Raul Castro said on Sunday.

The move could be a significant change on the Communist-led island where the state controls 90 percent of the economy and the biggest complaint is about monthly salaries equivalent to USD 18.

Castro, speaking to the National Assembly, said the steps were aimed at creating jobs for one 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 commercialisation of some production, giving flexibility to the hiring of labour," he said.

He did not say how many people would get self-employment licenses, which currently 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 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 allowed 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 on the island and hold off on paying its bills.

A number of Cubans said they welcomed the change.

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."

Paolo Spadoni, a fellow at Tulane University, said it was "a positive signal," but "the key issue is how many people will be allowed to become self-employed and in what sectors."

He said Cuba, population 11 million, had only 143,800 legal self-employed, or "cuentapropistas," at the end of 2009.

No change with Obama

Castro also spoke about US-Cuba relations, saying "in essence, nothing has changed" since 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.

He also discussed the planned release of 52 political prisoners in a deal last month with the Catholic Church, saying all of them had been subversives working for the United States.

"It must be remembered that none of these citizens were put in jail for their ideas," he said. So far, 20 of the 52 have been freed and sent to Spain.

He said the release was not a concession to outside pressure, but a "sovereign decision in strict adherence to our laws”.

His speech followed comments by Economic Minister Marino Murillo to reporters at the assembly that the Cuban government will reduce its role in small businesses, but continue to direct a centralised economy that eschews markets and private property.

Bureau Report

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