So much for those reforms in Cuba

Ten years after they were first authorized to do business in Cuba, private entrepreneurs will be subjected to tougher restrictions from Friday — a move likely to stall their expansion on the communist-ruled island.

For Estrella Rivas, who rents out rooms in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood, the new rules means she will be unable to offer breakfast to her guests — just a place to sleep.

“That means less money for me,” Rivas says matter-of-factly.

So who is going to enforce the new rules on private-sector businesses, which now account for 13 percent of Cuba’s workforce, or 592,000 people?

“I don’t know,” replies Rivas. “It seems there will be inspectors questioning the tourists.”

Since the new measures were published in July in the country’s official gazette, setting off a 150-day countdown to implementation that ends Friday, the government has worked overtime to explain them.

But those efforts have been to no avail — confusion is still the order of the day.

For lawyer Julio Antonio Fernandez, it’s pretty simple: the new rules will “put significant limits on private business activity.”

“It’s a devastating blow to a lot of people,” Fernandez told AFP.