Cuba lifts 50-year-old car import ban

END OF THE ROAD FOR 1950S VINTAGE CARS AS RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED IN CUBA

, 19 Dec 2013




Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful

consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.



Cuba will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in 50 years, marking the end of an era for the 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived the ban.



The decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken on Wednesday by Cuba's council of ministers, according to the official newspaper Granma.



It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles - automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles - and ends the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege.



Granma acknowledged the so-called "letters of authorisation" issued by the transport ministry had generated "resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment."



Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said.



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Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.



But the changes are a long-awaited element of President Raul Castro's attempts to gradually liberalise Cuba's Soviet-style economy.



Separately, Mr Castro's brother Fidel praised his brief encounter and handshake with Barack Obama in South Africa.



"I congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance, and especially for his firmness and dignity when with a friendly but firm gesture he greeted the head of government of the United States and said to him in English: 'Mr President, I am Castro.'"



on his way to the podium December 10 to speak at a memorial in Soweto for the late Nelson Mandela.



Neither side made much of the exchange but Fidel's remarks, in an article published in Granma, made clear that he approved of his brother's handling of the moment.



The handshake was the first between leaders of the two Cold War adversaries since 2000, when then US president Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel at the UN General Assembly in New York.



It was only the second time that American and Cuban presidents have shaken hands since the Cuban revolution in 1959.



Raul replaced Fidel as Cuba's president in 2006, but as the father of the Cuban revolution the elder Castro remains hugely influential.



Edited by Chris Irvine

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- (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, , New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, , Reincarnation, Gaia, OLD ENERGIES (AFRICA, TERRORISTS, CUBA, IRAN, NORTH KOREA, VENEZUELA ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) -

"I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - CUBA, KOREA [NORTH], IRAN, of course, and VENEZUELA. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "WATCH THE SYNCHRONICITIES THAT ARE OCCURRING. THE LEADERS WHO HAVE EITHER DIED OR ARE GOING TO IN THE NEXT YEAR OR SO WILL TAKE WITH THEM THE OLD WAYS. WATCH WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO TAKE THEIR PLACE, AND REMEMBER THESE MEETINGS WHERE I DESCRIBED THESE POTENTIALS TO YOU."
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