“New thinking about property”

Three years ago, Juventud Rebelde published a series of articles on problems of Cuban state enterprises that serve consumers, such as cafeterias and repair shops. The articles showed how customers are cheated and how many businesses have no functioning supply system, leading workers to improvise solutions. A synopsis is here.

Now commentator Ariel Terrero is on television saying that many of these businesses are “impossible…for the state to administer directly.” (Reuters coverage here). He seems to suggest turning them into cooperatives, following the model already in use on farms and the urban gardens called organoponicos:

“The leasing of state lands, which in the end is the placing of state property in the hands of producers, could be applied in other sectors, for example food services, retail trade, and other areas where really it is impossible, given the diversity and breadth, for the state to administer directly.”

Why not give it a try?