Cuba Oks Law To Lure Foreign Investment

After heated debate over how to prevent capitalism from spoiling Cuba’s socialist soul, Parliament passed a new law Tuesday aiming to lure badly needed foreign investment.

The proposal, approved without opposition by the more than 500 deputies, is the first major overhaul of foreign investment laws since Cuba cracked the door to outside business in 1982. That door opened wide after 1989 as Cuba’s socialist trading partners vanished and the country sought capital to save its struggling economy.

The measure creates clearer laws on investments and offers stronger guarantees that investors can repatriate net profits and sell out at any time.

For the first time in decades, foreigners will be allowed to buy houses, offices or hotels. Duty-free zones can now be created, and a ban on full foreign ownership of businesses was lifted.

While the changes better define laws governing investments, the Cuban government will still supply workers through state-run employment bureaus and the Cabinet will still approve most major deals.