Market in Havana, Cuba
HAVANA – Cuba enacted this Jan. 1 a new Tax Law to continue the government’s “modernization” of socialism with economic reforms that revamp the tax culture of a country where taxes have been virtually non-existent since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. More…
Reposted from The Economist
WHEN Raúl Castro, Cuba’s president, gave his latest big speech, to a meeting of the National Assembly in July, he repeated his stock response to those who urge him to move faster with reforms to his country’s stagnant state-run economy. Change, he said, would progress “without haste, but without pause”. But many on the island are questioning whether the reforms—officially called “updating”—have indeed paused. More…
Reposted from Newser
Written by Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press
The scene at Havana’s Victor Hugo Park is unfortunately typical, with a handful of boys kicking a soccer ball through trees while dozens of gray-haired seniors bend and stretch to the urgings of a government-employed trainer. So few children, so many elderly. It’s a central dilemma for a nation whose population is the oldest in Latin America, and getting older. More…
Cuban President Raul Castro
Reposted from Yahoo News
Written by Marc Frank, Reuters
Cuba adopted a new tax code this week and said it would loosen regulations on some state companies while turning others into cooperatives, as one of the world’s last Soviet-style economies moves in a more market-friendly direction. More…
Reposted from The Sun Sentinel
Written by Andrea Rodriguez, The Associated Press
Cuba has announced the imposition of stiff new import taxes that could substantially affect private entrepreneurs trying to get new businesses off the ground and many others who rely on informal shipments of merchandise from overseas. Starting in September, Cubans who come in and out of the country more than once a year will have to pay the equivalent of $10 a kilogram ($4.50 a pound) or more for imports, a fortune in a country where salaries average the equivalent of about $20 a month. More…
Reposted from Global Times
The Cuban government is “studying” the possibility of loosening the reins on private cooperatives, hoping to bring diversity into its economy that is currently dominated by state-run enterprises, official daily Trabajadores said Monday. The move is aimed at allowing private cooperatives, which are already operating in the agricultural sector, to fuel growth in other sectors, including transportation, food and services, the paper said. More…
If Cuban President Raul Castro can successfully reduce the state’s role in the economy and relax restrictions on capitalist activities, the country’s future won’t be North Korea or even Vietnam – but rather Turkey.
Reposted from The Globe and Mail
By Martin Hutchinson
Cuba has unveiled a Hugo Chavez hedge: economic reform. A senior Communist Party official says the island nation plans to shift nearly 50 per cent of output to the “non-state” sector. As its last rich patron, the Venezuelan President, battles cancer, Cuban President Raul Castro may finally see the writing on the wall. If he can successfully reduce the state’s role in the economy and relax restrictions on capitalist activities, the country’s future won’t be North Korea or even Vietnam – but rather Turkey. More…
Havana, Cuba
Although the Internet is limited and mostly dial-up slow, there are 1.5 million cellphones. Just a few years ago, ordinary citizens were barred from owning them.
Church-state relations
Under Castro, the government is also allowing more space for criticism — although not dissent. One of the main beneficiaries of that change is the Catholic Church, which is providing community outreach programs, offering the kinds of services — breakfast for the elderly, free pharmacies and computer, business and English classes — that were once the sole responsibility of the state. More…
Raul and Fidel Castro
Under Raúl Castro, Cuba has begun the journey towards capitalism. But it will take a decade and a big political battle to complete, writes Michael Reid
WHEN ON JULY 31st 2006 Cuban state television broadcast a terse statement from Fidel Castro to say that he had to undergo emergency surgery and was temporarily handing over to his brother, Raúl (pictured with Fidel, left), it felt like the end of an era. The man who had dominated every aspect of life on the island for almost half a century seemed to be on his way out. In the event Fidel survived, and nothing appeared to change. More…
Douglas Clayton, CEO of Leopard Capital
Dear Special Situations Reader,
Doug Clayton is an investor who works the frontiers. He likes to go into markets that are already so beaten up they can’t help but get better. “I like markets where you don’t have to be very smart,” he says. “Where you can invest in some basic things and know you’ll do well.” More…
