Cuba's Raul Castro unveils aircraft ownership reform
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| Published on Saturday, November 17, 2007 |
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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Interim leader Raul Castro has unveiled arguably the most significant economic reform since taking the helm in communist Cuba, announcing that in some cases aircraft can be privately owned.
It is major news in a country that depends heavily on tourism to generate hard currency, though the announcement Thursday raised many questions without immediately delivering many answers.
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| Raul Castro |
Raul Castro, 76, the defence chief who took over July 31, 2006 when his brother Fidel Castro, now 81, stepped aside to undergo major intestinal surgery, is seen as a pragmatist, interested in Chinese and Vietnamese economic models.
The interim leader has changed some regulations by decree, changing customs duties payment rules and easing the importation of computers, videos and spare car parts.
But Thursday's announcement in the government's official gazette, almost a year and a half into his period of leadership, was the furthest-reaching to date, touted by the government as a move in the interest of Cuba's economic growth.
"Aircraft ... are state-owned, socialist property of all the people. But their ownership can be transferred, in part or whole, in exceptional cases, to individuals or legal entities," said the decree.
The announcement did not immediately make clear whether those potentially benefiting from the change would be Cuban individuals and entities, foreign individuals and groups, or both.
The measure stipulates that such an exceptional transfer of ownership will be carried out "in the interest of the country's economic development, following approval by the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers," led by Vice President Carlos Lage.
While initial suspicions that the Cuban government would collapse in Fidel's absence have been proven wrong, the government headed by Raul Castro faces a plethora of problems such as rock-bottom salaries, crippling shortages in the transport and housing sectors and an ever-rising cost of living.
Many Cubans expect that Fidel Castro will be sidelined definitively, while continuing to write his editorials, and that Raul Castro eventually will wade into cautious economic reform.
Although last year Cuban officials insisted that Fidel Castro would return to work as prior to his illness, they have long since stopped making such predictions.
Fidel Castro hasn't been seen in public since his operation, but maintained a political presence this year by publishing weekly commentaries in Cuba's official newspapers. On October 14, he called in during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' weekly television chat program.
It was the first live audio appearance of the aging leader in 15 months. Photographs were also shown of Fidel and Chavez during the talk show.
Venezuela is Cuba's economic lifeline, providing cut-rate oil as well as political backup. A 1.4 billion-dollar oil refinery renovated with Caracas' help is to open in Cienfuegos in December.
But Cuba cannot count on a wholesale Venezuelan bailout, and may be looking to revive tourism as a way to fuel economic growth.
Tourism, for 15 years the locomotive of the otherwise weak communist-led economy, faces erosion from within Cuba and without, the Cuban magazine Bohemia reported in May.
In 2006 tourist arrivals fell 3.6 percent, "falling short of plans to grow by almost eight percent and reach 2.5 million foreign tourists on our streets and beaches." Only 2.2 million showed up, the magazine said. | | | | Reads : 785 | | | |
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