Consider, this is all happening while Fidel Castro is alive and still titular father of the country. Does anyone doubt that the drive toward capitalist reforms will greatly accelerate after his passing? Although, I have no doubt that like China and Vietnam, the ruling elite will still profess, with declining fervor, a ritualistic commitment to socialism for many years to come.
So, now the most humane and idealistic of the socialist states joins the capitalist club.
Cuba to cut 500,000 gov't workers; reform salaries
By WILL WEISSERT (AP) – 30 minutes ago
HAVANA — Cuba announced Monday it will cast off at least half a million state employees by mid-2011 and reduce restrictions on private enterprise to help them find new jobs — the most dramatic step yet in President Raul Castro's push to radically remake employment on the communist-run island.
Castro suggested during a nationally televised address on Easter Sunday that as many 1 million Cuban workers — about one in five — may be redundant. But the government had not previously laid out specific plans to reduce the work force.
The layoffs will start immediately and continue through the first half of next year, according to the nearly 3 million-strong Cuban Workers Confederation — the only labor union allowed by the government.
To soften the blow, it said the government would increase private-sector job opportunities, including allowing more Cubans to become self-employed, forming cooperatives run by employees rather than government administrators and increasing private control of state land, businesses and infrastructure through long-term leases.
The statement, which was published in state-controlled newspapers and read on government-run radio and television, said because of the sheer number of workers involved, the layoffs would come slowly, but that they would affect all government sectors.
Link: <http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ipe0no99xWr_oUrAP-q6PnKLj8XgD9I76E5G0>