FEB. 27, 2015

To the Editor:

Re “As Cuba Opens Door to Private Enterprise, Inequality Rushes In” (news article, Feb. 25):

One suggestion Cuba might consider to solve the inequality that capitalism is producing would be a more liberal approach to the alternative of independent worker cooperatives, which effectively compete with the capitalist world in countries like Brazil, Spain, Canada and even the United States.

If, for instance, coffee farmers were permitted to join together into cooperatives that could sell directly abroad, they might see the same success as coffee farmers did in Vietnam when its government allowed independent cooperatives.

There are many groups, like Kiva (which has generated many millions of dollars of investment funds), eager to foster cooperative, socially responsible development.

TOM MILLER
Oakland, Calif.

The writer is president of Green Cities Fund, which sponsors humanitarian development projects in Cuba and Vietnam.

View PDF: 2.27.15NewYorkTimes.doc