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Desmond Boylan / Reuters
Customers are entertained as they dine inside the newly licensed restaurant "El Bedouino" in Havana on April 1. The restaurant is an example of how life is changing in Cuba since President Raul Castro launched a string of limited economic reforms, legalizing certain kinds of businesses, including restaurants, hostels and street vendors.
Enrique De La Osa / Reuters
Women sell clothes they made to pedestrians along a street in Havana on March 24.
Desmond Boylan / Reuters
A woman pays a man with a private licence to sell goods at a stall in Havana on Feb. 29.
Reuters reports -- After his ailing older brother, Fidel, stepped down as president four years ago, Raul Castro began to encourage self-employment. He initiated changes in sectors previously restricted to the state or which had operated illegally in Cuba's vast black market.
He has given Cubans the right, with some restrictions, to buy and sell homes and cars for the first time since the early days of the 1959 revolution, led by Fidel.
Would-be farmers can lease land from the government. New small entrepreneurs are being allowed to enter into contracts with state companies and local governments.
As a result, more Cubans are setting up their own businesses as the cash-strapped government moves to cut spending and boost tax revenue.
Desmond Boylan / Reuters
A car with a "for sale" sign is seen on a street in Havana on Feb. 29. Unseen in the past, cars for sale are an example of how life is changing in Cuba since President Raul Castro launched a string of limited economic reforms, legalizing certain kinds of businesses, including restaurants, hostels and street vendors.
Enrique De La Osa / Reuters
Leather craftsman Arle Toro (right) tries to sell a hat to a pedestrian along a street in Havana on March 24.
Desmond Boylan / Reuters
A woman walks past an apartment with a "for sale" sign in Santiago de Cuba March 25, 2012. Unseen in the past, home sales are an example of how life is changing in Cuba since President Raul Castro launched a string of limited economic reforms, legalizing certain kinds of businesses, including restaurants, hostels and street vendors.
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Beautiful Girls.
Cuba could replace much of the Caribbean as a tourist destination if they would just get rid of communism. Castro even had the golf courses destroyed because he got beat by a Russian in a round of golf. It's a beautiful place and could be even nicer.
The US Embargo hasn't hurt the Cuban Gov't much, just the people. We deal with Communist China, Vietnam so why ostracize Cuba?
You are absolutely right, Rontron.
China and Vietnam not 70 miles from Miami.
True - it might take China's nukes a few more minutes to get here (besides, Cuba doesn't have them, remember). What's the big danger?
Seriously, that's barely an excuse, much less a reason.
When I look at their Buildings, it is like time stood still with some the of half baked construction techniques and many cheap and incomplete facades. Definitely not up to Union standards or even close to any code.
If Cuba opens up they should forbid lawyers from entering the country. Fidel was a lawyer and he destroyed the country almost worst than George Bush, a lawyer, could.
The difference between Vietnam & China and Cuba. Cuba is less than 100 miles off our coast and we could not prevent a communist movement from taking over a country so close, it's an ego thing with so old-guard politicians and Cuban exiles . Get over it and engage Cuba.
If Marco Rubio really wanted to make a name for himself, he would encourage trade with Cuba and relax tourism restrictions there. This policy of the US toward Cuba is purely the result of old Cubans in Miami and is total BS
I am returning to Cuba in May to visit and was there in November. The people are great. The country could flourish if tourists/trade grew. But they won't until the Castro's are gone. No foreign business in their right mind will invest there until they know 1959 won't happen again (throwing out the baby with the bath water). Hershey's Chocolate is a great example. Why did Castro throw them out? Because they were capitalists, even though they were doing great things for the people. Raul should step down now, before the people rise up ... which will only make things worse ... if they could be worse. Two different currencies (one for the people ... one for the foreigners). Lack of food (go to prison if you are caught with beef). Roads in disrepair. Buildings crumbling. Water born disease in Havana. Hey ... but everyone has a flat screen TV and nice clothes and internet ... that runs at 1980 speeds and is capped. But, the cars (1950 Chevy's that have Russian airplane engines), and the horse drawn wagons, and one-hour waits to get a dish of ice cream ... what more can you ask for in life??