family of residents
By Associated Press, Wednesday, November 23, 4:07 AM
HAVANA — Cuba on Tuesday relaxed a rule that limits islanders' internal
movement, reducing bureaucratic hurdles associated with migration to
Havana for people with immediate family members there.
Spouses, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings of
Cubans with legal residence in the capital will no longer have to ask
for prior permission to come to Havana, according to a decree that
appeared in the Official Gazette, a government publication that
disseminates new laws.
The decree does not affect restrictions on overseas travel.
The measure signed by President Raul Castro partially modifies a
controversial regulation under which people found in Havana who cannot
prove legal residence or an official reason for being there can be sent
back home and fined.
Presumably that policy still applies to people who are not close
relatives of Havana residents, and it was not immediately clear how
people would obtain documentation demonstrating that they have immediate
family members in the capital.
The rules on internal movement were adopted in the 1990s after the fall
of the Soviet Union, the island's main benefactor and trade partner,
created a severe economic crisis. The goal was to avoid a massive
economic migration to the capital, where much of Cuba's industry and
tourist centers are located.
"Although the causes and conditions that at that time motivated the
adoption of the aforementioned decree still exist," read the new
measure, dated Oct. 29, "it is advisable to exempt from the bureaucratic
procedure ... certain people from other provinces of the country who
seek to move permanently to Havana."
Cuba is implementing economic reforms under which small private
businesses have mushroomed and the government has permitted the free
sale of homes and cars.
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