Cuba moved to open crisis-ravaged parts of the state-run economy to private firms Wednesday, as the communist government struggles to ease acute shortages resulting from a US energy blockade.
A lengthy decree lifted restrictions on a swath of sectors including petrol distribution, electricity generation, rubbish collection and the manufacture and sale of medicines.
Amid a de-facto US fuel embargo, daily life in Cuba has been upended by rolling blackouts, water cuts and acute shortages of food and medicine.
The reforms seemed designed to target the most affected parts of daily life, and to provide a release value for growing political pressure.
With piles of rubbish lining the streets of Havana, private firms will be able to operate waste collection and recycling services.
And with few buses or cars on the roads due to petrol shortages, private firms will also be able to sell fuel as well as import and construct electric vehicles.
"Maybe it will be a good thing because, after all, right now there's nothing," said Ana Diago, 66, who retired and then returned to work at a port company.
"This is a critical moment and we have to find some solutions. The reality is that people are without medicines, without food and without many other things, and life has to go on."
Details of reforms emerged as Cuba's National Assembly met in Havana, with delegates denouncing Washington's "genocidal" aggression and chanting "socialism or death!"
But the decree represents a significant loosening of decades-old communist doctrine.
The new regulations "considerably broaden the scope for entrepreneurs and private companies on the island," state controlled media reported.
"I think it's a good thing because there are almost never any medicines in the pharmacy. When you go looking for them, there's nothing there, and then people sell them on the street," 77-year-old Maria Luisa Perez told AFP.
Health care had long been a point of pride for Cuba's communist rulers, who were able to offer free care and highly subsidised medicines for all.
The island's Communist Party is trying to withstand its biggest crisis since the death of longtime leader Fidel Castro and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Cubans who once feared government reprisals now criticize the country's leaders and have taken to banging pots and pans in regular nighttime protests.
The government, however, stressed its tight control over strategic sectors key to retaining power: education, telecommunications, media and defense.
Tobacco sales will also remain under government control while oil and mining operations will be liberalized, subject to state license.
The United States has effectively blockaded fuel imports to Cuba for almost six months, leading to an acute shortage of fuel for transport and electricity generation.
That has pushed a system, already creaking under years of under-investment and trade sanctions, to the point of collapse.
The United States took control of Venezuela energy assets in late January, effectively cutting off Cuba's main source of supply.
Washington threatened sanctions against other countries that exported oil to Cuba.
There have been at least five nationwide blackouts this year and countless localized cuts.
Most parts of the capital have electricity for only a few hours each day.
Cuba's state electricity provider said it would be able to generate only about 27 percent of expected peak demand on Wednesday, leaving the grid facing a 2,380-megawatt shortfall.
rd-arb/mlm
