Castro projects higher growth in 2011

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HAVANA, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A revitalized form of socialism will increase Cuba's growth a full percentage point to 3.1 percent in 2011, President Raul Castro told the National Assembly.

In his speech in Havana Saturday posted on the state-run CubaDebate Web site, Castro said despite his encouragement for Cubans to go into private business, "there will be no going back" to capitalism, CNN reported.

Since being named president in 2008, Castro has eliminated at least 1 million government jobs created under the old Soviet-style socialist style.

"The measures we are applying, and all of the changes that are necessary for the modernization of the economic model, are aimed at preserving socialism, strengthening it and making it truly irreversible," Castro said.

The ruling Communist Party will hold its first annual convention in 14 years in April to vote on Castro's newest economic plan, the report said. In the meantime, the 79-year-old president said he wanted public debates with input to be considered at the convention.