Business & Economy

The final draft of the economic reforms approved by the VI Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba will hit the newsstands in tabloid form as of Monday. Another document to be sold includes the reasoning behind the changes made in the initial “guidelines” document presented to the 1,000 delegate congress and the population in general.

Alejandro Francisco Roca, a former food industry minister, was handed down a 15-year prison sentence this week for corruption charges involving the Chilean-Cuban joint venture company Rio Zaza.

While most of the island’s workers had the day off on Monday, Cuba’s International Tourism Fair kicked off in the capital. Cuba will present its latest tourism products at the annual week-long event attended by tourist agency reps from dozens of countries.

The Cuban Worker’s Confederation (CTC) is calling on workers to turn out for Sunday’s International Worker’s Day parade in support of the reforms approved less than two weeks ago by the 6th Communist Party Congress.

Just two weeks after a major military parade to remember the 1961 defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion, many Cubans will march again on Sunday May 1, International Workers Day. Since the holiday falls on Sunday the Ministry of Labor announced today that Monday May 2 would be treated as a national holiday at the island’s workplaces.

Taking a look at the reforms being and to be implemented in Cuba’s economy I came up with some indicators that we can evaluate five years down the road (and consider along the way) to see if the reforms have a positive impact on life under Cuban socialism.

To what extent the suggestions and proposals for altering the plan will be taken into accourt, in part already being implemented, is being closely followed around the country and abroad.

Cuba received a million tourists in the first quarter of 2011, for a 10.4 per cent growth, the Ministry of Tourism reported in a communiqué. The source indicated that this increase was especially encouraged by travellers from Canada, Russia, Argentina, UK, Chile, Poland, Venezuela and Belgium.

The nongovernmental Cuba Studies Group proposed offering 50 million dollars in microloans to small private businesses that have opened in Cuba, in a report released in Washington. The initiative would also include the lifting of US restrictions on financial transactions to the island and the advice by US specialists to small businesses.

The Cuban authorities will try to make more efficient the sugar harvest through the introduction of Brazilian harvesters, global positioning systems (GPS) and the reorganization of cane transportation, among other experimental measures designed to modernize that sector, said sources from the Ministry of the Sugar Industry.