HAVANA — President Raul Castro has issued a stern warning to entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of Cuba's economic reform, saying "those pressuring us to move faster are moving us toward failure."
Castro has legalized small-scale private business in nearly 200 fields since 2010 but has issued tighter regulations on businesses seeing as going too far or competing excessively with state enterprises. In recent months the government has banned the resale of imported hardware and clothes and cracked down on unlicensed private videogame and movie salons.
Castro threw his full weight behind such measures in an address to the biannual meeting of parliament Saturday, saying "every step we take must be accompanied by the establishment of a sense of order."
He blamed inadequate government controls for "creating an environment of impunity."
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