Cuentapropistas in court

Cuba’s Supreme Court issued a decision about court cases involving entrepreneurs, trabajadores por cuenta propia, that clarifies how their cases should be handled.

It can be found in the Gaceta Oficial, the January 23 issue, decision number GOC-2019-89-O2. There is also an explanatory article on the court’s website (didn’t know they did these) written by Liliana Hernández Díaz, the chief judge of the court’s division that handles economic matters (Presidenta de la Sala de lo Económico).

The decision is procedural. Apparently there have been many cases involving disputes between cuentapropistas, and between them and clients and creditors. The decision clarifies that these cases should be heard and where they should be assigned.

It also says that in contract disputes, as the judge puts it in her article, that when it comes to contract disputes, cuentapropistas “litigate under equal conditions and respect for rights and procedural guarantees as state enterprises and other legal entities and economic actors.”

So while they remain – for now – individuals with licenses as opposed to legally constituted businesses with personalidad jurídica, they have standing in court when it comes to contract disputes.