THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cubans will be allowed to buy and sell homes for the first time since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 under a package of sweeping reforms.
Since the Communist revolution, inhabitants of the island have only been allowed to swap homes through a complicated system or pass them on to their children.
But a raft of reforms agreed at the first congress of the Communist Party since 1997 includes a plan to legalise property sales.
Under the current system of home swaps, a culture of corruption involving "under-the-table" payments has developed.
However, President Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, said that the concentration of property would not be allowed and no details were given on how sales would operate.
The plan to allow home sales was one of about 300 approved by the party, which also include more self-employment, cutting a million government jobs in the coming years, encouraging foreign investment and reducing state spending. » | Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo | Tuesday, April 19, 2011
