Cuba to legalize private taxis

HAVANA, July 10 (UPI) -- Cuba said it would lift its ban on private taxis, a move that would legitimate thousands of unlicensed cabs on the communist island.

Though the number of new licenses to be issued has yet to be announced, Transportation Ministry officials said they would soon allow the private cabs to operate legally, Granma newspaper reported Thursday.

Long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro was a vocal critic of the private taxi industry in Cuba, though his brother and successor Raul Castro has made the private taxi initiative the latest in a series of seeming economic reforms in Cuba.