Cuba’s government has released the finalized Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, ratified at the Sixth Communist Party Congress held from April 16-19, 2011. The document outlines the process of “modernizing” the Cuban economic system.

The draft guidelines (original Spanish available here), released in November of last year, contained 291 provisions that were discussed in the process leading up to the Congress. Marino Murillo, the former Economic Minister who this year was assigned to a position to specifically oversee the reform process, estimated that about 7 million of Cuba’s 11.2 million citizens participated in these debates, which were held at more than 130,000 meetings across the island. Their principal concerns, along with those of Party delegates chosen to attend the Congress, resulted in several modifications and additions to the Guidelines, which in its final form contains 313 guidelines in a 48-page document.

The Guidelines are accompanied by a pamphlet titled “Information about the Results of the Debate on the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution,” which describes the new guidelines and those that were modified or combined in the final, ratified document.  The pamphlet also summarizes the fundamental reasons for these changes.

The approved Guidelines outline several important changes to Cuba’s economic model, including:

• The purchase and sale of homes, and facilitation of other ways to transfer property. Currently, citizens are only allowed to trade homes in a complicated and bureaucratic process, called “permutas.” However, the concentration or accumulation of property will not be allowed.
• The creation of cooperatives outside of the agricultural sector with the ability to hire employees and obtain microcredit.
• The purchase and sale of automobiles.
• Gradual elimination of the ration card, or “libreta.”
• Plans to “study a policy that would facilitate” Cubans to travel abroad as tourists. Currently, an exit visa is required to leave the island. The process to get the visa, called a “carta blanca,” is complicated and in many cases the visa is denied.

The finalized document, however, provides few specifics about how the changes outlined in the 313 approved guidelines will be implemented. It does call for a government-created commission to manage the implementation of the Guidelines, including the development of a legal and institutional base to support the changes. No timeline is given for the creation of the commission or implementation of Guidelines.

Both documents are available for sale throughout the island at news kiosks and post offices.