Cuba takes steps to implement economic overhaul amid US pressure campaign

HAVANA, July 30 - Cuba announced new details of its plans to open up key sectors of its state-run economy to private industry amid Washington’s campaign of maximum pressure aiming to force an economic transformation on the communist-run island.

Economic changes including easing restrictions on land use, allowing businesses to import fuel and medications, and authorizing private tourist companies to operate on the island were discussed by Cuban lawmakers at a two-day National Assembly that concluded on Thursday.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the reforms were not being implemented to please the U.S. and key sectors of the economy would not be privatized.

"We are not going to implement predatory capitalism or carry out a massive privatization of national assets, as some fear," he said in a speech on Thursday afternoon.

"There will be no, and this must be made very clear, privatization of healthcare, science, culture, or services that are strategic to the nation.”

CUBA OPENS PARTS OF ENERGY SECTOR AMID U.S. BLOCKADE

Last month, lawmakers unanimously approved a package of 176 measures that, if implemented, would represent a dramatic transformation of the island’s socialist economy in a bid to survive punishing U.S. sanctions.

In the past, Cuba has announced economic reforms only to fail to implement them or roll them back.

But six months into the crushing U.S.-imposed oil blockade and a cascade of new U.S. sanctions that has sparked fears of a widening humanitarian crisis, Cuban officials said they had already begun to enact at least some of the reforms.

Cuba had authorized the first foreign investment venture to import and sell fuel, and nearly 200 Cuban businesses have already received permission to engage in wholesale fuel distribution on the island, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said during the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The cautious opening of Cuba’s energy sector, which the government has tightly controlled for decades, comes after the U.S. imposed a severe oil blockade and authorized U.S. fuel exports to Cuba’s private businesses - a dual-track energy policy aimed at crippling the Cuban state while empowering the private sector.

CHANGES TO AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM AIM TO REVITALIZE SECTORS

Lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new agriculture law to streamline the procedures for granting the right to use state-owned land. The new framework would apply both to Cubans and foreigners, as well as private Cuban businesses. About 80% of the land on the island is owned by the government, while the remaining 20% belongs to private producers.

Cuba's tourism sector has been devastated by the departure of international hotel giants following the hardening of U.S. sanctions, as well as the cancellation of flight routes sparked by the fuel shortages. Lawmakers approved 10 measures aimed at stimulating private investment, including easing restrictions for private tour companies, car rental businesses and eco-tourism ventures.

Almost three-quarters of the island’s hotels are currently closed, according to Cuban officials.

Cuba also announced on Wednesday the creation of its first specially regulated Economic Development Zone to establish a wholly foreign-owned company in the health tourism sector.

The National Assembly comes on the heels of the removal on Tuesday of more than 40 restrictions on the private sector, aimed at allowing businesses to participate in healthcare and education, which have been traditionally tightly controlled by the government.

The easing of these restrictions would allow private companies to import medications amid severe shortages at the state-run pharmacies.

Still, lawmakers reiterated that the implementation of these sweeping economic proposals would take time.

"The results will be achieved gradually,” Marrero said on Wednesday. “Starting now, the most important, and perhaps the most difficult, stage begins.” REUTERS