Cuban co-operatives a sign of economic change

One hundred state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments were scheduled to become private co-operatives today as communist-run Cuba continues to shed secondary economic activity in favour of individual initiative and markets.

The co-operatives will be the first outside of agriculture since all businesses were nationalised in 1968.

The government says many more establishments will follow, beginning in 2014, as an alternative to small and medium-sized state businesses in retail and food services, transportation, light manufacturing, and construction, among other sectors.