In what can be considered a historical moment, the Cuban government legalized today the purchase and sale of new automobiles for all its citizens, ending the prohibition that had been enforced since the 1959 revolution.
It was a move that was announced last April by President Raul Castro, but would not become law until it was published in the Official Gazette.
The new ruling, which is effective from Saturday, stipulates that both the buyer and the sellers will each pay a 4% tax for new cars. Buyers will also have to go to state-owned dealerships and prove that the money they intend to spend were obtained through their work and not sent by relatives who live abroad.
Sales of cars in communist Cuba was restricted to any models that had been imported to the country until 1959, save for a few members of the party elite who had access to Soviet-made cars and some black market imports.
That’s the reason why the country’s streets are a cornucopia of American classics from the ‘50s, sadly most of the times in various states of decay.
As Cuba is slowly moving away from a completely state-regulated and isolated regime in order to rebuild its economy, the government has announced that it will also allow the legal sale and purchase of real estate by the end of 2011.
Now, is that a revolution or what?
Story References: Youtube/AP & USA Today
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