Posted : Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:18:03 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : World
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Havana - A month after Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro formally
stepped down, the Cuban government was considering reforms to make
migration and other issues more flexible, although it evaded details
other than those pertaining to travel and migration. The reforms could
include scrapping "all" prohibitions that have been made "obsolete,"
Eliades Acosta, culture secretary of the Cuban Communist Party's Central
Committee, told reporters during a meeting of Cubans living abroad.
Cubans "expect and need" such measures, Acosta said.
"There is a group of measures that are being evaluated, that are being
analyzed, and that will go into force as soon as possible," he said.
In recent days, there has been talk of reform, including liberalization
of the sale of computers and other domestic appliances, incentives for
agriculture and the admission of Cubans to the Caribbean island's luxury
hotels.
One unofficial document being circulated even suggests that computers
and other electric appliances may start to be sold without restrictions.
However, there was no official confirmation of such reforms on Wednesday.
"We are working on what we say, and we fulfil what we say," said Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.
Perez Roque told the gathering that changes in immigration regulations
could include the possibility of longer stays abroad and even the
elimination of exit visas.
"We are firm in our commitment to make ever more fluid the relationship
between Cubans living abroad and Cuba, and making the procedure and the
regulations on that issue faster," Perez Roque said during a meeting in
Havana with Cubans living abroad.
Current law limits stays abroad to 11 months.
The travel reforms have been mentioned by Castro's brother and
successor, Raul Castro, during his interim presidency while Castro was
recuperating from an intestinal illness.
"We are firm in our commitment to make ever more fluid the relationship
between Cubans living abroad and Cuba, and making the procedure and the
regulations on that issue faster," Perez Roque said during a meeting in
Havana with Cubans living abroad.
Acosta, who also gave little detail, said among the prohibitions being
considered for reform, "none will be left out, all" are being considered.
"That is what this is about, eliminating prohibitions that are obsolete
and allowing people to live in a more natural, more normal way," Acosta
said, with little detail.
Several delegates at the meeting of Cubans Living Abroad Against the
Blockade and Terrorism told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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