Cuba lifts all restrictions on motor vehicle sales

Cuba lifts all restrictions on motor vehicle sales

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO

JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM



Acknowledging that its attempt to ease some controls on the sale of

motor vehicles had led to "illegalities," the Cuban government announced

Thursday that it was lifting the last restrictions but keeping its

monopoly on imports.



The Granma newspaper said key change will be an end to the requirement

that Cubans buying a new vehicle must first get a hard-to-obtain letter

of approval from the Transportation Ministry — a requirement that led to

backhanded deals.



All controls also will be lifted on the sale of cars, trucks, vans and

motorcycles, both new and old, among both Cubans and foreigners, the

newspaper reported, saying the decision was reached at a Council of

Ministers meeting last week.



Also freed will be the sale of gasoline and diesel motors and body

panels from junk vehicles owned by the state, such as rental car and

vans that have been involved in accidents.



The report on Granma, official voice of the ruling Communist Party,

marked an admission that the half-measures adopted in a reform of the

motor vehicle market two years ago did not work well and led to

subterfuges to get around the remaining controls.



The changes "are additional steps to eliminate restrictions that with

time lost their reason for being," the newspaper reported. "With them,

administrative hurdles that opened spaces for illegalities disappear."



"The low supplies of vehicles, their restriction to a reduced group …

and the existence of another market where prices are many times higher …

generated nonconformity, dissatisfaction … speculation and enrichment,"

it added.



All imports and the prices of new vehicles will remain up to the

government, the newspaper noted. Profits will go toward improving mass

transportation.



For half a century, Cubans could only freely buy and sell cars that had

been imported before the 1959 revolution — the main reason why their

owners took so much care to keep them running that the island won fame

for its classic cars.



The state imported all new vehicles and sold them only to selected

individuals — government officials and supporters, military officers and

physicians, especially those who had worked abroad and been able to save

up hard currencies.



Cubans nevertheless bought and sold post-1959 vehicles on the black

market — if stopped by police, the driver could argue that the legal

owner had loaned him the vehicle — until the reforms two years ago first

allowed the sale of used post-1959 vehicles.



Immediately after the reform, tens of thousands of title transfers were

recorded, according to Cuban government figures. The majority were

reported to be illegal transactions made before 2011 and now being

legalized.



Cuban ruler Raúl Castro has been moving away from a Soviet styled,

centrally controlled economy and toward more of a market economy since

he officially succeeded ailing brother Fidel in 2008.



He has laid out scores of needed "updates" but proceeded with caution,

drawing complaints that while his diagnosis of Cuba's economic problems

has been correct, his remedies have been too weak and slow



Source: "Cuba lifts all restrictions on motor vehicle sales - Cuba -

MiamiHerald.com" -

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/19/3828433/cuba-lifts-all-restrictions-on.html#storylink=misearch