Havana. – The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, assured this Thursday that the package of 176 reforms to liberalize and decentralize the island’s economy, the country’s biggest transformation in decades, is not being adopted “to please the United States”.
Díaz-Canel made these statements while speaking on the second and final day of the ordinary session of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP, unicameral parliament), in which the implementation of these reforms to the island’s socialist-style central planning economy system was analyzed.
“Transformations are not adopted to please the United States, they do not respond to any type of demand derived from a limited process of conversations that we have carried out in this period, they are the fruit of a sovereign decision of Cuba,” he stated.
“Strategic priority for the nation”
The president stressed that these reforms, which he described as a “strategic priority for the nation,” are “the transformations that the moment demands,” in relation to the serious crisis the country is suffering, aggravated by the oil blockade and the new sanctions from Washington.
However, he tried to calm the misgivings that these measures have raised in some sectors by assuring that the reforms will not bring capitalism to the island, but rather will serve to “advance in socialist construction.”
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Under no circumstances will they compromise the “independence,” “sovereignty,” and “social conquests of the revolution,” the Cuban president indicated.
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He acknowledged, however, that the implementation of these transformations is not without “risks,” which is why he called for a gradual implementation and work to avoid distortions.
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Díaz-Canel added in this regard that the concerns of some sectors are “legitimate,” from the danger of capital accumulation to the elimination of basic services, from the lack of transparency and popular control to the increase in inequality.
However, the president ruled out that the island will fall into “predatory capitalism” and that public health, education, science and research, and “strategic services” will be privatized.
The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one), of which he is the first secretary, will continue to have a priority role in the country, added Díaz-Canel.
Cuba’s Parliament approves new laws
The National Assembly of People’s Power of Cuba (ANPP, unicameral parliament) approved this Thursday the new laws on housing and the personal identity and domicile system, which provide for the elimination of the confiscation of property due to departure from the country; as well as modernizing the identity registry of Cubans and residents on the island, respectively.
The Housing Law recognizes the right of natural persons to own up to two homes, without prejudice to owning one for rest or vacation, and expands the weight of the private sector in construction and the flexibility in ownership.
Furthermore, it authorizes the owner of a dwelling declared to be in a state of ruin to transfer it in favor of a natural or legal person “for the purpose of recovering its use value in a building of up to two floors or apartments.”
On the other hand, the Law on the Personal Identity and Domicile System expands the identity registry for Cubans residing on the island and “wherever they may be,” and centralizes this information within the Ministry of the Interior (Minint).
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The laws approved by the Parliament of Cuba
In this regard, the head of the Identification, Immigration and Foreigners Directorate of the Minint, Mario Méndez, pointed out that “this is a high-impact bill, which includes some novel aspects” that conceives a greater use of advanced biometric technology.
In this sense, the law points out that in addition to the photograph and fingerprints traditionally used in identity documents, other attributes would be added such as voice recording, iris, skin and eye color, or height, for the original identification of each person.
The regulation also aims to “guarantee the recognition and protection of identity, as well as the determination, registration, and updating of the domicile as a legal-administrative attribute”.
The human rights NGO Cubalex raised concerns about this regulation because it perceives a lack of “effective guarantees” for citizens to limit the State’s use of that information, and considers that it “could become an additional tool for surveillance and social control.”
Reduction of ministries
The Cuban Parliament also approved today the reduction from 27 to 21 ministries, included in the Law on the Organization of the Central State Administration, in line with the package of 176 transformations to liberalize and decentralize the economy, which has been mired in a deep crisis for six years and aggravated by a policy of pressure from Washington for the island’s government to introduce political and economic changes.
The U.S. imposed an oil embargo in January, which has multiplied blackouts in the Caribbean nation; and in May, it intensified with new sanctions that have scared away foreign companies and caused the departure of seven international hotel chains that managed 46% of the country’s total rooms (more than 80,000, according to official data).
