Cuba Briefing
The Caribbean Council's Exclusive Publication on Cuba

The Cuba Briefing is your news and insight resource for the latest developments in Cuba.

Published since the mid-1990s, Cuba Briefing is an unparalleled resource of detailed analysis on economic, social and political developments going on inside Cuba including analysis on the Cuban government’s priorities and policy developments towards foreign investors, economic reform, and the growth of the private sector.

Cuba Briefing is produced on a weekly basis by David Jessop, the director and founder of the Cuba Initiative and Non-Executive Director of the Caribbean Council, providing expert insight and a longer term lens on week-to-week developments in the country.

Don’t miss out on the latest news business and opportunities from the region. Subscribe to receive the Cuba Briefing Publication directly to your inbox. Subscribers receive 45 editions over 12 months. Click to Subscribe.

Leading Articles Featured in Cuba Briefing

Díaz-Canel seeks unity on revised macro-economic reforms

25 November 2025

President Díaz-Canel, speaking as President of the National Defense Council, has told Cuba’s Council of State that the coming process of studying and analysing the Government’s recently revised and published programme of macro-economic reform must be “a participatory and constructive exercise.”

It must also, he said, be a “collective construction that the population understands and contributes to,” delivering “concrete proposals derived from the debates.”

The conclusions, he stressed, must be able to be “defended in every economic, political and social scenario, the implementation of which, with the contribution of all, transforms the situation of the country.”

His comments published in Granma, were followed by an announcement by Cuba’s Communist Party that a detailed nationwide study and analysis of the programme will review and submit proposals “aimed at strengthening the Programme and identifying, in each specific context, how to contribute to its implementation.” This it said will involve all Communist Party associated bodies, mass organisations, municipal assemblies, and all national, provincial, and municipal governing councils.

The analysis which began on 15 November and will run to 30 December, is described as an important step towards the Communist Party’s 9th Party Congress to be held on 16-19 April 2026, and as enabling all political entities, militants and citizens “to contribute to the search for solutions in order to reverse the situation in the country.”

The new process follows a growing national sense of unease about the likely impact of the revised reform programme, its objectives, and differences within Cuba’s socialist system as to the viability and impact of the remedies proposed. This is because most Cubans, including the most vulnerable, are already having to cope with shortages of food, basic goods and medicines, price inflation, constant interruptions to the power and water supply, creeping dollarisation, all at a time of continuing low wages.

In its report, the official publication indicated that at its most recent regular session, the Council of State had reviewed the progress being made on the process of economic reform and the work that still remains in relation to “improving government management, national defence and security,” and “ensuring protection for vulnerable individuals, families, households, and communities.”

Party official says process of change “won’t be resolved in a single year”

As the review began, Cubadebate published a lengthy interview with Jorge Luis Broche, the Head of the Economic and Productive Department and a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), on “the political vision” that he said underpins its strategy for the gradual recovery of the economy.

His answers, deeply imbued with the language, analysis and thinking of the PCC’s leading political role and historic experience, makes clear that there will be no freeing of the economy or private sector, that the new process is based on multiple “guiding documents” from the Communist Party’s first congress in 1975 to the present day, and that its will play a continuing role in almost all future aspects of economic development.

Speaking about the latest iteration of Cuba’s economic reform programme (Details Cuba Briefing 17 November 2025), Broche made clear that the process of change “won’t be resolved in a single year” in relation to the macro-economic imbalance, restoring the electricity supply, increasing external revenues, or controlling the relationship between the state and non-state sectors. Rather, he said, that the revised programme’s general objectives now contain actions that must be addressed within a year, “hence the annual nature of the Programme.”

To achieve delivery, Broche told Cubadebate, there will be ongoing monitoring by government and the State at all levels using new software. This he said will be integrated into the Communist Party’s work systems from the municipal to the national level, involve “process oversight,” regular guidance by cadres, and communicating knowledge of the programme to the Cuban people. “We have the design in the architecture of the Cuban political system that will allow us to control the processes that derive from the implementation of the Government Programme, from the Party, the State and the Government,” he told the online media platform .

Primacy of efficient and profitable state enterprise emphasised

Regarding re-sizing state-owned enterprises, Broche noted that given it is not possible to relinquish the fundamental role of such entities, the programme must prioritize business efficiency in their management, modify their energy matrix, and connect them with other economic actors through joint projects. In all these respects, he told the media platform, the stste companies that are already achieving this are technology-based, put knowledge to work for development, and export not only goods and services but also intangibles. Such successful actors, he said, demonstrate “the plan we have works,” and “the challenge is for the majority to follow this path.”

Broche made clear, however, that engagement with the non-state sector of the economy “presents a significant challenge,” as, he said, most such entities are not unionised within the Cuban system. To address this, he suggested that it will be necessary to “bring them together in common spaces, share the Programme with them, and, above all, ensure they meet their respective objectives.”

More generally, Broche’s extended answers in the interview point to the PCC having decided that what is needed to deliver the programme is greater oversight and control, the creation of new monitoring mechanisms, and a constant debate involving multiple institutions and mass organisations in the period leading up to the Party Congress next April.

Next year’s Communist Party Congress to be able to modify the new plan

The interview concluded with Broche confirming, in answer to a question about whether the Ninth Party Congress will have the capacity to substantially modify the published revised document, that the collective debate now underway will form a part of the documents presented at the Party Congress.

Quoting Cuba’s President, the senior Communist Party official, noted that it is essential that the process of discussion “contributes significantly to unity,” and finding a consensus on economic issues, which are “crucial for the present and future of the Revolution.”

That is why, Broche said, the President he has demanded that this process be “properly secured and consolidated.” “Since these are economic issues, it’s not a linear equation with a single solution. There are different paths to reach that position,“ Broche noted. “When we reach a consensus, that’s the consensus. Which doesn’t mean we all agree, but it is the consensus. And that’s the path we all have to take to reach that desired outcome,” he told Cubadebate.

25 November 2025, Issue 1303

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Melissa causes extensive damage to Cuba’s southeastern provinces

03 November 2025

Cuba has begun recovery efforts following the passage of the downgraded but still powerful, Hurricane Melissa, a Category 3 storm, that hit Cuba’s southeastern coast in the early hours of 29 October. The storm had earlier caused extensive damage to western Jamaica.

Melissa made landfall with sustained winds of 193 km/h (120 mph) and rainfall of up to 400 mm (16 inches) in 24 hours, according to Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology. Although no deaths have been reported access to many rural areas remains impossible. About 3.5mn people remained at press time without electricity in areas of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma, and Guantánamo.

Official Cuban reporting indicated that its winds and associated rains caused severe structural and crop damage in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Holguín before exiting the island near the municipality of Banes, in Holguin. High seas and heavy rains caused extensive flooding in low lying coastal areas, and damage to bridges, dams, roads, telecommunications, and the energy supply in the two provinces. Lesser damage was reported in the neighbouring provinces of Guantanamo, Las Tunas, and Granma.

Díaz-Canel warns of the wider post-hurricane dangers

Speaking on a special edition of the flagship television and radio programme Mesa Redonda broadcast late on 29 October, President Díaz-Canel said “that the people of the eastern provinces have withstood the brutal onslaught of Hurricane Melissa without loss of life so far is no miracle” but the result of a process of “preparation and organisation and solidarity.”

He warned, however, the danger has not passed: “The strong winds and torrential rains left in the hurricane’s wake; the overflowing riverbanks; the downed trees and power lines; the pollution generated in these circumstances—all of this can contribute to the spread of damage, disease, and even loss of life and property that was salvaged during the worst of the storm, and that we could lose if there is negligence or imprudence.”

In doing so he noted that when an assessment of all the damage has been reported, “we must address and control the epidemiological situation, and restore energy, communications, and drinking water services.” Continuing, he said: “We must ensure the responsible and orderly return of evacuees to their homes. When guidance is available, we must resume health and education services at all levels, guarantee food production and distribution, and salvage as much of the sugar and coffee harvests as possible,” and “above all” the sugar harvest that is being prepared for the next campaign.“ He also stressed the importance of restoring administrative services to the population and “beginning the rescue of damaged infrastructure, especially housing.”

His comments reflect the sense that while Cuba’s detailed civil defence measures, which saw the evacuation of up to 0.5mn people, had worked well, recovery will be complex as it takes place against a background of economic hardship, food shortages, a failing electrical system, social instability, and more recently a worrying epidemiological situation that has seen the spread of arboviruses in many provinces.

Also speaking, Roberto Morales, the Secretary of Organisation of the Cuban Communist Party, stressed the need during the recovery phase in the affected provinces for local administrations and official entities to maintain a systematic provision of information in the light of concern about an external disinformation campaign, and “anticipated electrical disruptions.” Morales stressed the need for local mobilisation during the recovery process to involve “a leading role for young people”.

03 November 2025, Issue 1300

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

US government providing US$3mn post hurricane relief through Catholic Church

10 November 2025

Cuba’s government has described as “positive” its cooperation with the Catholic Church in relation to the delivery of US$3mn in US post-hurricane humanitarian assistance. Its comments follow an agreement that the Church would coordinate US aid intended for Cubans in the island’s eastern provinces.

Writing on social media, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX) which coordinates all aid provided to Cuba, noted that other US support from the Archdiocese of Miami would also flow through the Catholic Church on the island. Many other nations are sending support but on an unconditional basis following the extensive damage caused when Hurricane Melissa struck the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín, and Guantánamo on 29 October (Cuba Briefing 3 November 2025).

“We have a positive experience of years of cooperation linked to the humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in Cuba, which has materialised successfully in full coordination with our authorities and in accordance with the requirements that are adjusted to the assessment of damages and most urgent needs,” MINCEX emphasised in a statement. “These humanitarian gestures are appreciated” it added, “as is the case with aid from various parts of the world, including that from other religious organisations in the US.”

The Ministry also noted that government and local authorities “are working to channel the contribution in the fastest and most efficient way, so that it reaches the populations and territories in need as soon as possible.”

Its comments follow a formal announcement on 31 October that Washington was prepared to provide “immediate humanitarian assistance directly and via local partners who can most effectively deliver it to those in need,” and a press statement noting that a Declaration of Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba had been issued.

The US State Department said in the press statement that in the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s devastation of Eastern Cuba, “the Trump Administration stands with the brave Cuban people who continue to struggle to meet basic needs.” It also noted that “US law includes exemptions and authorisations relating to private donations of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods to Cuba, as well as disaster response.”

A day earlier the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said that the US was prepared to provide immediate humanitarian assistance via local partners able to effectively deliver to those in need. The US had earlier omitted Cuba from the list of nations in the Caribbean that Rubio, a Cuban American, said the US was in “close contact with” about post-hurricane relief.

Earlier when uncertainty prevailed, and before agreement with the Catholic Church in Cuba had been reached, President Díaz-Canel had written on social media that “Cuba is open and grateful for any kind of help to our people, as long as it is honest and within the framework of respect for regulations and national sovereignty.”

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC) first reported on 2 November that together with Caritas Cuba, which is linked to the Catholic churches’ international aid agency, that the church in Cuba was taking the “necessary steps” to coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid offered by the US government for those affected in the eastern provinces by Hurricane Melissa. It also noted that it was “holding useful and positive conversations with all parties” so that the assistance could become a “reality.”

In a related statement, the COCC, after noting its calling to “serve in charity all, especially the poorest and most needy,” wrote that “in the new circumstances that history brings us,” it had received a “humanitarian offer from the United States Administration, channelled through Catholic Church institutions in that country, to directly assist those affected by Hurricane Melissa, with US$3mn in resources.”

Post Hurricane recovery underway
Hurricane relief work underway but full recovery likely to be prolonged. The Cuban government is working to address the extensive damage caused to four of its eastern provinces following the passage of Hurricane Melissa across the island on 29 October (Cuba Briefing 3 November 2025). Visits to the most affected regions of the provinces by President Díaz-Canel, the Organisation Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party, Roberto Morales, and provincial leaders, made clear that the most severe damage occurred in the province of Santiago de Cuba, while “unfavorable conditions” persist in regions of Granma due to extensive flooding.

Addressing Cuba’s National Defence Council Cuba’s President stressed the need to quantify the damage and to work intensively on sanitation, the rehabilitation of water and electricity services, and to plant short-cycle crops. He also emphasised the need to prioritise the distribution of donations to the most affected areas. In doing so he warned that the extent of the damage to homes, infrastructure and crops in the eastern region meant that full recovery would be prolonged. Observing that the recovery phase is the most difficult, he said that it is understandable that people despair due to the lack of electricity, water, and other resources to begin repairing their homes.

According to preliminary estimates produced by the United Nations, nearly 2.2mn people in the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Guantánamo “have been severely impacted with critical damage to housing, basic services, communications, livelihoods, and threats to food security.” Launching a recovery plan on 5 November, the UN said that it is seeking to raise US$74.2mn to support response and recovery efforts and restore essential services. Describing the magnitude of the damage as “profound,” the UN noted that “Cuba is excluded from major international financial institutions and has extremely restricted access to funding sources for both disaster response and the economic and social recovery of affected communities.”

The UN report based on provisional data indicates damage to some 60,000 homes, 461 medical centers, 1,552 schools, more than 78,700 hectares of crops, with 75% of mobile telephony and up to 90% of telecommunications masts in the four provinces, along with fibre optic networks out of service. It describes Cuba’s already weak energy supply system in the eastern region as having been “compromised” by the storm and facing multiple distribution problems.

Hotels in eastern provinces reopen. Cuba’s Tourist Board has said that “significant progress” has been made in preparing hotels and visitor related facilities across the eastern part of the island following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. A press release noted that hotels largely suffered “cosmetic damage,” and operations are gradually resuming. It noted that the Gran Muthu Almirante hotel in Banes in Holguin has been operational since 30 October; tourist areas in Guardalavaca and Pesquero in Holguin are expected to reopen by 5 November and be fully ready for guests; the Frank País International Airport in Holguín is operational; and the Antonio Maceo International Airport in Santiago de Cuba is able to offer basic services.

Epidemiological surveillance intensified. Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) and Cuba’s Communist Party are intensifying epidemiological surveillance and the public health related response in the eastern provinces hit by Hurricane Melissa. The Ministry said that it is increasing the deployment of medical brigades, the distribution of essential supplies and the activation of protocols against the possible spread of disease. The programmes give priority to the most vulnerable and to restoring basic health services. Cuba continues to experience the spread of mosquito borne arboviruses nationally.

Cauto del Paso dam no longer posing a danger. It has been confirmed that the Cauto del Paso dam in Granma province which was having to release water into already flooded areas following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, has significantly reduced the volume of water it must release. The current outflow has been lowered from 4,000 cubic meters per second experienced at the most critical moments to 1,200 cubic meters per second. The dam, crucial for agricultural production in the Cauto Valley and the protection of nearby communities, no longer represents a danger. According to the Cuban News Agency (ACN) the flow of rivers and tributaries in the watershed is now in a more favorable condition.

Damage to railway severe. Cuba’s Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez, has said that Hurricane Melissa caused severe damage to the railway in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. There the economically vital Central Line saw some of its underpinning swept away affecting both tracks leaving several sections suspended in mid-air. It also caused damage to branch lines and serious problems on the Bayamo line where a length of embankment collapsed.

Subsidies on construction materials. Cuba’s Council of Ministers has approved a measure that will see families whose homes were totally or partially affected by Hurricane Melissa, receive 50% of the sale price of construction materials at current prices needed for repairs. The new measure also allows for bank loans and subsidies for those with insufficient income in the provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín, and Las Tunas.

IN BRIEF
Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has airlifted twenty-six tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba including medical supplies, non-perishable food, and materials for the reconstruction of homes and institutions.

Colombia. Colombia has shipped 246 tons of food, hygiene products, mosquito nets, milk, water, and fuel to Cuba to support recovery following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

UNDP. Some 2,000 roofing sheets have been sent to the province of Granma as part of an early response by the United Nations System in Cuba (UNDP Cuba). The shipment is part of a batch of 6,000. The UN also reported that a shipment of essential medical supplies able to support the over 90,000 people displaced by the storm have been airlifted to Havana.

International support. Numerous nations and agencies have sent aid to Cuba. They include India, China, the EU, Qatar, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Switzerland, The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, the International Federation of Red Cross, solidarity organisations internationally, and diaspora groupings are also reported to be contributing funds and other forms of support.

10 November 2025, Issue 1301

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More
Conceptual shift in Cuban thinking about foreign investment

Conceptual shift in Cuban thinking about foreign investment

27 October 2025

 In a far-reaching decision for Cuban tourism and potentially all foreign exchange earning foreign investments, the Spanish hotel group Iberostar has signed a lease agreement with the Gaviota tourism group.. 

This will enable Iberostar to have operational autonomy over the Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul hotel in Varadero, a property it presently manages, according to the company and Cuban reporting. 

The agreement will replace on 1 January 2026 the existing management contract that Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts has on the property with Grupo de Turismo Gaviota. Ownership remains with the Cuban group. 

The announcement represents a conceptual shift in Cuba’s thinking about foreign investment. It follows remarks made by Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, in late July when the island’s National Assembly met. At the time, he informed delegates that as a part of the country’s macro-economic reform process, government would establish a basis for wholly foreign-owned companies to invest, lease, and operate Cuba’s tourism facilities. 

 He also noted that other investment related measures will focus on establishing as wholly foreign-owned companies those that sign leases for tourist facilities. In doing so, he said that work is also underway to grant property rights to stimulate agricultural production and encourage investment in that sector (See Cuba Briefing 21 July 2025). 

Although not stated, the implication is that the concept of leasing property and land might soon be extended to foreign currency earning export-related investments beyond tourism. That is, if the hotels experiment is considered a politically and economically viable addition to Cuba’s socialist economy. 

Under the new lease agreement Iberostar will be able to make its own decisions on issues ranging from who it employs, their salaries, catering, imports, and multiple other day-to-day management issues that were previously controlled by Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism and other Cuban entities, including the powerful military conglomerate GAESA of which Gaviota is a part. 

Significantly from a business perspective the agreement enables Iberostar to strengthen the hotel’s offering and operations; develop strategic alliances; reposition its marketing, branding, and image internationally; align its Cuban operations with those of the global Iberostar brand; and enhance its competitiveness. According to Cuban reporting, it will also allow for asset renewal, the incorporation of innovative technology, sales optimisation, operational strengthening, financial modernisation, the development of a robust marketing and communications strategy, and a firm commitment to talent development . 

From a Cuban Government perspective, the new arrangement is expected to bring in much needed foreign exchange, initially in the form of rental income from the property. It is also intended to enhance tourism earnings on the basis that the hotel’s operator will upgrade their Cuban offering by independently delivering the hospitality levels visitors expect, and by financing the 80% of imported inputs the hotel’s operation requires. 

Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts has eighteen four- and five-star hotels located in Cuba’s main tourist destinations, and it is expected that if the new approach proves viable it will seek to establish similar arrangements for its other properties. 

The financial structure of the lease agreement has not been revealed. However, reporting on the new policy, the Spanish news agency EFE noted that if the pilot programme with Iberostar is successful it is expected to be extended to other properties operated in Cuba by various major international hotel chains. It reported that the terms of each agreement will be separately negotiated with each chain and that “there appear to be no common scales for setting the rent or fixed fees.” 

Up to now hotels owned by GAESA managed by foreign investors were required to follow official guidelines, often having to seek state approval for multiple operational issues including purchases, who to employ and the wages to pay at levels established by the Cuban state in CUP. 

Tourism remains a major source of foreign currency for Cuba. However, arrivals numbers are in decline, with around 1.8mn visitors now expected this year compared with the 2.6mn MINTUR had planned for. By contrast, between January and July of this year, the Dominican Republic received almost 7.2m tourists, 3.2% more than during the same period last year. 

Spanish chains presently operate seventy-one hotels on Cuba with a total of 27,679 rooms. Meliá another significant Spanish group have thirty-four hotels. 

In April, letters of intent were signed by Gaviota with Chinese counterparts “for the negotiation of a lease” with Cubanacan for the Copacabana Hotel in the Miramar district of Havana, according to Granma. Russia’s Cosmos Hotel Group recently announced it will operate the five-star Sierra Cristal resort hotel in Holguín province (Cuba Briefing 20 October 2025). As reported under Russia below, discussions are also underway to encourage Russian businesses to invest in and operate hotels in Cuba. 

Photo Reference: Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul hotel in Varadero (Tripadvisor)

27 October 2025, Issue 1299

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Official media report suggests government’s food price cap ineffective

20 October 2025

A hard-hitting report has appeared in the official publication Cubadebate indicating that government measures introduced to cap food prices in Havana are having little effect and unintended consequences.

The investigative report came three days after the official Communist Party publication, Granma, wrote on 13 October that inspection and price control measures have been intensified in Havana’s agricultural markets to try to address growing citizen concern about speculative pricing.

Granma’s report indicated that Havana’s government will now reinforce inspections to ensure regulations establishing unified price caps on producers, wholesalers, and retailers are adhered to. It came just days after President Díaz-Canel had met with the Government of Havana to demand a systematic and unified approach to resolve the multiple problems facing the capital (Cuba Briefing 13 October 2025).

However, in an unusual departure, just three days later, questioning the impact of the policy and seemingly its economic logic, Cubadebate published an investigative piece by a team of its journalists headlined ‘Cap or fiction: Regulated prices in Havana’s agricultural markets.’

They found on visiting some of the city’s weekend agricultural markets selling basic foodstuffs, that instead of prices falling “the price of produce was directly related to inflation and the dollar exchange rate on the informal market.” They also observed that in contravention of government regulations, some vendors failed to exhibit prices but were selling at up to double the legal price cap.

“Price caps are like putting a Band-Aid on a wound. No one complies, and inspectors are conspicuous by their absence at best; at worst, they buy them off with a string of overpriced onions,” Cubadebate quoted one Havana resident as saying.

The platform went on to note: the “discrepancy between the decree and the reality in Havana’s markets reveals that the current mechanism is insufficient. The population is trapped in an impossible dilemma: abide by regulations that are not enforced or accept exorbitant prices to feed themselves.”

This situation, it wrote, cannot be borne indefinitely by families “who end up suffering the consequences of uneven implementation and the disconnect between the designed policy and the complexities of the field.”

“The solution goes beyond simple control” requiring a comprehensive strategy that includes measures that address the root causes. This involves, Cubadebate observed, “facilitating access to fertilisers and fuel at affordable prices, directly supporting producers to shorten the distribution chain, and promoting a stable supply that, in the long run, naturally regulates prices.”

The article ends with what comes close to a serious warning to government about the consequences: “Effectiveness of any government measure is judged by its tangible impact on people’s lives. For these caps to cease being a dead letter and become a reality, an approach that combines credible monitoring with the diagnosis and resolution of the economic obstacles faced by both producers and consumers is imperative. Only then can fairs and markets fulfil their true purpose: to be an accessible space where people can purchase their food,” Cubadebate wrote.

Highlights in this issue:

  • Official media report suggests government’s food price cap ineffective
  • Response to spread of vector-borne viruses strengthened
  • Cuba’s National Defence Council meets
  • Fire destroys Cuba’s most important lobster processor
  • Russia ‘still seeking solutions that enable long-term cooperation’
  • Cuban opposition leader Daniel Ferrer goes into exile in the US

20 October 2025, Issue 1298

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Fall in export earnings ‘making it hard to meet economic needs’

13 October 2025

Falling foreign currency earnings from exports are affecting Cuba’s ability “to purchase supplies, raw materials, fuel, food, and other products essential to the economy and society,” according to an official media report of a recent meeting of Cuba’s Council of Ministers.

Although few economic details and no statistics were published, the meeting was told that revenue from exports continued to fall through August.

Addressing Ministers, President Díaz-Canel painted a picture of a country with limited foreign exchange earnings, needing the will to address comprehensively the problems it faces.

His comments and the tenor of official reporting suggests that Cuba’s economic situation is deteriorating at a time when social tensions are growing and the island needs to find rapidly the resources required to address multiple problems including uncollected, potentially disease-carrying refuse that has been building up in Havana’s streets (See story below).

Warning about the potentially severe implications for the country, Cuba’s President was quoted by Granma as saying. “No one is going to solve Cuba’s problems for us. We have to solve them ourselves …. with revolutionary audacity and creativity, and also with effort…”

According to Granma, in response to ministerial reports on economic performance, Díaz-Canel stressed the need for all exporters to work to transform the situation. “It is vital for the country; much of the economic growth depends on exporters, both of goods and services,” he was quoted as saying. Cuba’s President also stressed the need to strengthen services exports, strengthen tourism, and expand into other services areas where he said the country has great potential. In doing so, he called for greater agility, especially in relation to the development of IT and other services that can generate greater income.

On the subject of Cuba’s failing agricultural and industrial production, he reportedly told ministers that without greater production “we are very limited.” Regarding the sugar sector, he emphasised that its mission is not just to produce sugar, but also to produce derivatives and have a focus on sugarcane production as an energy source. “For that, the first thing we need is to have sugarcane,” he said in a probable reference to the 2024-25 campaign that most analysts believe to have been the worst for sugar in over a century.

Cuba’s President also stressed the need to increase retail sales. The Cuban economy will not recover if there is no domestic production, primarily of food, he told ministers.

Earlier, Cuba’s pragmatic Minister of Economy and Planning, Joaquín Alonso, had stressed the need for the business community to direct its efforts “toward achieving the full implementation of approved self-financing schemes in foreign currency to generate increasing resources for the economy.”

He had also stressed to colleagues the need to prioritise and accelerate measures that address the introduction of renewable energy sources for productive operations; implement rapidly agreed measures to address water supply shortages; and to increase the supply of goods and services in domestic currency (CUP) if macroeconomic stabilisation is to be achieved.

He also stressed the need to strengthen logistics for exports, and to achieve a greater number of foreign investment projects, especially those that result in a value-added increase in revenue.

No update provided on macroeconomic stabilisation programme

Although Ministers were reported to have addressed progress on the macroeconomic stabilisation programme agreed in December 2023, no new details were provided other than the fact that an updated version had been approved by the Politburo on 22 September. This the reports noted will now “form the basis of the discussion and analysis process that will take place in the country.” The updated document’s revised approach was described as “important”.

No indication was provided as to substance or progress being made on key issues previously intended to be resolved in the second part of 2025 such as the introduction of a new exchange rate mechanism.

The nature of the report suggests that government is likely to struggle to achieve the 1% growth it had hoped for this year. Last year, the economy contracted by 1.1% and in 2023 by 1.9%, according to official figures. The UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, recently forecast that the Cuban economy will contract by 1.5% this year.

Other issues considered at the Council meeting

Granma reported that the Council of Ministers was told that a significant reduction in the accumulated fiscal deficit had been achieved largely through an over-fulfilment of revenues and “significant under-executions of expenditure, both current and capital because of the unmet activity levels.” The meeting also heard that the country has a “current account surplus that is favourable, enabling a focus on capital expenditures.”

Although the budgets of some municipalities and provinces were reported to have been positive at the end of August, with five provinces, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, and Villa Clara, continuing to consolidate their surpluses ,Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marerro was quoted as emphasising the need to accelerate the process. A municipality, he said, will never fully develop if it does not achieve surplus status. To this end, he told colleagues, a more in-depth analysis at the regional level is required in relation to increasing revenues, management, and compliance with key indicators.

During the meeting, Ministers approved an updated Portfolio of Foreign Investment Opportunities, which according to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Oscar Pérez-Oliva, will “increase the share of foreign direct investment as an important source of economic and social development.” Pérez-Oliva also noted that work is underway to identify projects in Cuba’s territories “that leverage existing endogenous resources and are sufficiently attractive to attract investors.” The investment emphasis in the new portfolio is on oil, tourism, the sugar agroindustry, food production, the biopharmaceutical industry, manufacturing, and mining.

In her presentation, the Comptroller General, Miriam Marbán, said that her office was focussed on monitoring the “use and allocation of current transfers approved for unbudgeted business activity,” and on systematic and rigorous oversight at every level to ensure compliance with government’s objectives.

Among the draft decrees discussed was one from the Presidency “To regulate the process of planning work objectives and activities in the bodies and agencies of the Central State Administration, national entities, and local bodies of People’s Power.” Though few details were provided, the document appears to seek to reorder the process of planning, and how it should be applied to the government’s macro-economic stabilisation programme “using different management techniques.”

Highlights in this issue:

  • President calls for unified response to the multiple problems facing Havana
  • Report details central role of provincial Party in local economic decision making
  • US Supreme Court agrees to hear Helms Burton related cases following DOJ testimony
  • Security and military cooperation agreement signed with Nicaragua
  • To weaken UN sanctions vote, US tells allies Cubans are fighting with Russia in Ukraine

13 October 2025, Issue 1297

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Cuba’s railways struggle to overcome lack of resources and investment

06 October 2025

Amid continuing uncertainty about whether Russia will invest in modernising and upgrading the Cuban railways system, Cuba’s state media has detailed the steps the Unión de Ferrocarriles de Cuba (UFC) is taking to try to improve its aging infrastructure.

In an extended analysis, the official media platform Cubadebate has outlined the strategic importance of Cuba’s 8,000km complex nationwide rail network, its challenges, status, and immediate plans and prospects. The publication did so on the basis that that the UFC’s fortunes directly impact on social, economic, and politically sensitive areas including sugar production, fuel transportation, food distribution, and public mobility.

Speaking to Argenis Jiménez, the Deputy Director of the Cuban Railways Union, the media platform described a system being held together by committed railwaymen utilising the limited sums at their disposal to invest in, maintain, and upgrade the country’s deteriorating railway infrastructure and services.

“The national railway system, is immersed in a period we could call recovery, based on the identification of the fundamental pillars on which we must work to strengthen the activity,” Jiménez told the publication, before going on to address issues from safety to incentivising the system’s workforce.

Safety concerns being addressed as a priority

Asked about the recent increase in accidents, Jiménez said that these largely resulted “from objective factors, such as the limited availability of resources essential for the repair and maintenance of the railway, and subjective factors, including “negligence or a lack of foresight in railway operations by the personnel involved.” To address this, he said, actions have been taken “to minimise and, if possible, eradicate the causes and conditions that generate these train accidents.”

Following recent tours of the entire national rail network to identify the most vulnerable points requiring urgent intervention, he noted, specific resources had been allocated, and training provided for crews and personnel involved in rail traffic. “The goal is to strengthen safety and ensure that trains complete their routes on schedule,” he told the online publication. To this end, he noted, “Immediate work is already underway in those locations where, with available resources or a minimum of them, traffic parameters can be restored….”

Stressing that safety remained a top priority, Jiménez, confirmed that “It’s often necessary to reduce speed to ensure safety” in the light of “current limitations which include both material and human resources.”

Power outages impacting on operations

One critical factor the interview highlighted is the lack of electricity at stations and its impact on railway communications and safety.

“This is a factor that is causing major delays today, because when a power outage occurs or there is a power shortage, all communication with those stations is lost,” the UFC’s Deputy Director said. “If there is no communication, if there is no clear order of movement, the train cannot move forward. It must wait until communication is restored or operate at minimum speed to avoid any incident that could lead to an accident.”

Jiménez also noted the impact a lack of spare parts is having on the recovery of rolling stock, whether locomotives and railcars, or passenger cars and freight cars. Many, he said, must be imported, despite efforts being made by domestic industry to supply some of what is required.

Pointing out that passenger cars have not received spare parts since their acquisition in 2019, the Deputy Director of the Cuban Railways Union said, “We have managed to keep them running thanks to the inventiveness of railway workers and certain links with national industry, which have allowed us to extend their useful life.”

Noting that “due to the country’s financial limitations, this has been very difficult,” he told Cubadebate that “strategies have been sought to import resources that directly impact the safety of rail traffic.” “Contracts have already been finalised abroad, and we hope that, by the end of this year, parts will be acquired to repair locomotives and passenger cars, especially those acquired in 2019,” he said.

Cubadebate wrote, however, that such purchases will primarily be directed at acquiring parts for the high-powered locomotives that pull the country’s domestic passenger services and its strategically important main line freight trains. In this latter context, Jiménez, observed that some progress has been achieved in relation to the containers used to transport protected loads including the country’s subsidised basic food basket. A level of resources has been guaranteed, he said, that has allowed for the repair of 140 containers in a process that will continue throughout 2025.

Despite this, he said, other actions are being delayed to the medium and long term, due to their technical and logistical complexity and the need for imported resources. These include the provision of treated wooden sleepers not available nationally due “to the lack of forest resources,” and spare parts for specialised machinery used for railway maintenance: “The goal is to progressively improve the running quality of the trains until they reach the speed for which each section of the track was designed,” Jiménez said,

Uncertainty surrounds Russian investment in Cuba’s Railways

Although discussions have been taking place since 2017 with Russia about investment in the transformation of the sector, and France’s SNCF has been maintaining with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) some of the country’s locomotives, no mention of the current state of either relationship was made by Cubadebate.

In September 2024 the Russian Railways Union confirmed that it planned soon to sign a contract for the modernisation of Cuba’s railway infrastructure, noting that the company had resumed work on the project after the Russian Government published in March 2024 a cooperation agreement with Cuba which included provisions for credits for the modernisation of the island’s railway system (Cuba Briefing 23 September 2024).

Then in July this year Russia’s Ministry of Transport said that it is seeking alternative sources of finance to upgrade the Cuban railways system. Following a meeting in Moscow between the Russian Deputy Minister of Transport, Alexander Poshivay, and Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Marcus Bermudez de la Torre, it was announced that a search had begun to identify new sources of funding to resume work intended to restore and modernise the Cuban railways system. No indication was provided as to why a new source of funding was required.

More promisingly, however, during his recent visit to Moscow, President Díaz-Canel received confirmation from President Putin that a special mechanism to subsidise interest rates on credits for Russian business owners investing in major projects in Cuba will now be established. The confirmation came not long after a meeting in Havana of the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission, and earlier indications that Cuba is willing to offer special incentives and concessions to leading Russian investors in strategic sectors including railways.

What is less clear is whether the project as initially envisaged will proceed as the cost is huge. In 2019 it was estimated to be between €1.88bn (US$2.21bn) and €2bn but is likely to have risen substantially since then. The overall scope of the project was first detailed in Cuba Briefing 3 March 2017.

“Today, the Cuban railway network faces the dual challenge of modernisation and resilience. Heir to an infrastructure that demands a constant battle for sustainability, it stands as an irreplaceable pillar for the country. In a complex economic context, the train remains the backbone for the movement of large volumes of cargo, as well as a fundamental mass transportation service for thousands of citizens,” Cubadebate concluded. However, when or if the external financial and technical support needed to turn around Cuba’s vital but deteriorating railway system will appear, continues to remain unclear.

Highlights in this issue:

  • Cuba begins to implement regulations for a carbon market
  • New oversight policy requires non-state MSMEs to take state legal advice when contracting
  • Cuba blames Washington for exclusion by DR from the Summit of the Americas
  • New Russian military agreement with Cuba submitted to State Duma
  • China ‘willing to expedite emergency-based aid projects’

06 October 2025, Issue 1296

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Growing concern about impact of worsening power and water supply

22 September 2025

In an indication of the growing seriousness of Cuba’s worsening power and water supply situation, Cuba’s President has led a high-level meeting to discuss an action plan to address the country’s lengthening periods without power and related water shortages.

The meeting, which appeared similar in format to a Council of Ministers’ meeting, although not described as such, considered in part the need for an improved response to a growing number of fragmented local street protests in various parts of the island.

Noting euphemistically that recent days had been marked “by a context of contingencies,” President Díaz-Canel told the meeting that “despite the number and intensity of the successive ‘anti-Cuban’ protests, the enemy has failed to capitalise on the existing unrest and drive it into a social uprising.”

The official youth publication Juventud Rebelde quoted him as emphasising “the importance of increasing revolutionary vigilance in these times and of knowing how to adapt, to each circumstance, the methods of confronting criminal acts that damage the country’s vital resources.”

Díaz-Canel also stressed the importance of “cohesion between the Party, the Government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Young Communist League, mass organisations, and the population,” and the need for all such entities to be engaged in a constant discussion with the population, “explaining and listening” in spaces “designed and organised to encourage debate.”

Earlier, the meeting which involved the government’s leadership, and by video link the authorities in every province, heard from specialists that the daily power deficit is now having a serious national impact on Cubans access to water. Ministers and officials were told that the lack of electricity was causing 50% of the problems relating to its supply, drought 32%, and the breakdown of pumping equipment 10%.

Although no other figures were published relating to the overall scale of the crisis, the online and print publication quoted participating officials from the province of Santiago de Cuba as saying that the local situation was “tense,” and as telling the meeting that rapid actions are being designed to enable greater availability of the resource through the use of tanker trucks, the activation of wells, the provision of easy access points to water, and “even the possibility of transporting water by rail.”

On the subject of power outages (see also Cuba below), the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, told the meeting that “the situation in the SEN (Cuba’s National Energy System) is complex and has worsened” following the disconnection of another of Cuba’s aging thermoelectric plants (CTE) from the grid. Although making clear that power would gradually be restored, the Minister said that “major impacts” would continue at the nighttime peak, but “with a considerable decrease (in the generation deficit) during the day, below 1,000MW.”

The report quoted the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, as telling the meeting that while the focus was on the SEN and the impact on water, other issues including the food supply, medicine, and transportation also required focus.

Juventud Rebelde indicated that the meeting additionally considered “the tensions our America is experiencing due to an empire that seeks to impose peace through force,” and what it described as “other sensitive issues such as the impact of an increasingly costly and harrowing blockade on Cubans.”

The former issue reflects Cuba’s growing concern about the heightened US military presence in the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Guyana, and recent actions by a naval task force close to Venezuela’s economic zone that has been sinking vessels alleged by Washington to be carrying narcotics destined for the US.

Juventud Rebelde’s report ended by noting President Díaz-Canel’s shared conviction that “we will move forward,” and that “one day, having overcome these moments, we will be able to recall these bitter days and the ways in which we overcame them.” “Here,” he was quoted as telling ministers, “No one will surrender.”

Highlights in this issue:

  • Growing concern about impact of worsening power and water supply 
  • Cuba to strengthen its defence and security cooperation with China 
  • Energy Minister confirms fully restoring a normal power supply will require millions of Dollars 
  • Joint pharma production with China to be expanded, transferred to Cuba
  • Ricardo Cabrisas passes 
  • US Court permits Administration to end humanitarian parole, deport Cubans

22 September 2025, Issue 1294

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More

Cuba’s private sector demonstrates ability to stimulate growth

15 September 2025

Recently published official figures indicate that Cuba’s non-state MSMEs have begun to make a major economic contribution in consumer related sectors and services despite severe bureaucratic and regulatory impediments. However, according to a recent report by the US-based Cuban academic, Ricardo Torres, the sector continues to be seen by Cuba’s political leadership as “a necessary evil.”

Preliminary information published in late July by Cuba’s Office of National Statistics (ONEI) makes clear that, possibly for the first time since the Cuban revolution in 1959, Cuba’s private sector now accounts for more retail sales by value, meeting in 2024, according to ONEI, demand for some 55% of retail goods and services, a figure up from 44% in 2023.

The change is observable in the wide variety of products now on sale in informal markets – often at high US Dollar or Euro related prices – compared to state retail outlets that increasingly are only able to offer a limited variety of goods because of government’s lack of foreign exchange to import such products.

Provincial reporting and government statements additionally indicate that Cuba’s embryonic private sector is now playing an increasing role in turning around the fortunes of some productive and export-oriented state enterprises that have been able to identify and receive approval for entering into cooperative public-private ventures.

Emphasis now on localised state control

In a recent address to the Economic Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, Mercedes López, the President of the state-run National Institute of Non-State Economic Actors, made clear the growing fiscal importance of Cuba’s private sector.

Contributions from non-state management entities to the state budget, she was reported to have said, reached CUP6.8bn at the end of May, “confirming their growing fiscal impact and their importance as financial support for the country.” She also noted that non-state MSMEs “had a significant impact on the national economy, had created new jobs, promoted initiatives in the productive and service sectors, and increased revenue for the state budget.”

However, the official also laid emphasis on the need for control and for Municipal Administration Councils empowered to directly approve new MSMEs and non-agricultural cooperatives (CNA) to act to build on the territorial momentum and institutional strengthening they have been given responsibility for.

Stressing the importance of accelerating the decentralised power they now have to approve new state and non-state economic actors, she made clear that the objective now is for provincial and municipal authorities to foster “opportunities for identifying productive and commercial linkages,” and to allow non-state MSMEs “to more effectively integrate into the national economy” with a focus on potentially exportable products and territorial development.

No clarity on how far private sector will be allowed to grow

Despite this, it is far from certain how much further Cuba’s private sector will be allowed to grow. There are signs that the process of approval of new MSMEs’ slowed after central government handed responsibility for the approval of new non-state MSMEs to regional entities in September 2024, introducing a new layer of bureaucracy.

The news agency IPS reported in July that the approval of new MSMEs in Cuba is practically now at a standstill, and at mid-2025, growth in the non-state sector of the Cuban economy is showing signs of slowing due to the bureaucratic processes involved in their approval and ability to operate relatively freely.

It quoted Oniel Díaz, the General Manager of Auge, a private company providing corporate services, as saying: “The approval process for MSMEs is practically at a standstill, because in the first two or three years (since 2021), 100 MSMEs were approved weekly, and from May 2024 until today, only a handful have been approved.” According to Díaz, whose business has supported the growth of more than 400 private Cuban enterprises, this has resulted in “visible discontent” as applicants are having to wait for a response “for seven or eight months, or more than a year, and haven’t received one.”

The situation, he said, “does nothing to resolve any of the distortions in the economy, but rather, on the contrary, reinforces them.”

IPS noted that the 2024 decision to grant approval for MSMEs to municipal governing councils and remove it from the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) should have been completed in March this year, but relatively few existing municipalities have been incorporated into the new system. It also observed that the older slow-moving process requiring lengthy inputs from local governments remains in place in most of Cuba.

For his part, President Diaz-Canel asserts that Cuba’s position on encouraging non-state MSMES and cooperatives must remain “strategic” and should be seen as an integral and complimentary part of the country’s socialist economy, while insisting state companies remain the dominant force in the economy but must become more efficient.

In July, Cuba’s pragmatic Minister of the Economy and Planning, Joaquin Alonso, told Cuba’s National Assembly that the development of Cuba’s private sector remains important to the economy. Although some ministers continue to stress the need for greater control, Alonso told delegates that the role of non-state economic actors is advancing, and that government’s intention is not to want to confront it “but rather to properly guide it.” Imports by private businesses, he said, had topped US$1bn, a 34% increase over the same period in 2024.

’Cultural problems’ affecting state, non-state business relationships In recent months, government’s stress has increasingly been on creating approved cooperative arrangements between state and non-state entities where the latter are able to provide services or have the financing available to facilitate imports to enable the restoration of state production.

Despite this, recent exchanges on Cuban television’s flagship programme Mesa Redonda, make clear that achieving this requires overcoming what were euphemistically described as “cultural problems.”

Speaking on the programme on 19 June the Directors of state and non-state enterprises made clear they face similar problems in developing public-private collaboration in the “complex landscape of the Cuban economy” where “cultural and bureaucratic barriers converge.” Or as one participant succinctly put it: “Some directors still view the non-state sector as competition rather than an ally. It has been very difficult to establish that relationship simply because of the culture of Cuban business.”

In a report on the discussion, the official publication Cubadebate concluded: “The Cuban economy can no longer afford to maintain silos. In a country with limited resources, cooperation among all economic actors is not an option, but the only way to build resilience. Practice demonstrates this. When applied pragmatically, productive linkages cease to be a theoretical bridge and become a tangible engine of development. It is urgent to institutionalise these good practices, transforming exceptions into the rule.”

Its commentary raises important and so far unanswered questions as to how internal political disagreements within the Communist Party between senior conservatives, reformers, and the military – which controls significant parts of the Cuban economy – about the eventual size of the island’s private sector will be resolved. The issue is of particular significance at a time when much of the economy is in free fall, and the Communist Party and government appears to prefer the more controllable route of offering new more liberal incentives to private and quasi-state investors from China and Russia interested in key sectors such as tourism, sugar, and agriculture.

Expert analysis explores uncertain future of Cuba’s private sector Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist formerly at the University of Havana but now a Professor at the American University in Washington DC, answers this by saying that private enterprise has become a “necessary evil” for the Cuban government, despite it gaining ground on the state. In a recently published study, ‘Private Sector in Cuba: Escape Valve or Engine of Development?’ he observes that the island’s private sector remains limited because of the state’s lack of commitment to it.

The analysis, published by the Cuba Study Group, a US based entity which brings together Cuban-American business leaders and young professionals, makes clear how much the Cuban private sector’s influence has grown, with more than 10,000 MSMEs having been registered in two years and now accounting for approximately 30% of employment or about 0.6mn jobs.

Speaking recently to the news agency EFE, Torres said: “Right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the private sector because the economy is in a stranglehold. It depends on regulations from a government that isn’t committed to free enterprise.” “There is no commitment, because the ideology that still prevails in the government views the private sector as a threat.”

The study confirms that, although the private sector now plays an important economic role in retail, transportation, and household services, it is regarded as “a safety valve rather than an engine of development,” Torres notes.

Drawing on official data, the report seeks to answer complex questions but with unclear answers relating to the point at which the state might halt its advance, and the conditions that would be required to enable the private sector’s potential as a driver of sustainable growth.

It notes that although Cuba’s MSMEs and the self-employed contributed 23% of national tax revenues in 2024, persistent structural obstacles remain. Cuban entrepreneurs, it observes, face multiple challenges including legal uncertainty, limited access to credit, and a tax burden heavier than that applied to foreign investors. Private entities also suffer from state limits on their ability to compete in external markets as official restrictions require the use of state intermediaries to engage in foreign trade.

In the report, Torres points to the lack of uniformity in the interpretation of regulatory provisions and unpredictable actions by government in relation to raids, inspections, legal requirements, price caps, and tax adjustments and their use for control. He argues that US policies by restricting banking and financial arrangements additionally impact the private sector’s ability to grow.

The academic recommends that if Cuba’s private sector is to develop and play a greater role, it requires more than mere tolerance. Eliminating bureaucratic barriers, expanding authorised activities, allowing foreign investment in MSMEs, and reforming the tax code to grant domestic private firms at least the same treatment as foreign investors, should, he believes, be the way forward.

The full 27-page report can be found at https://cubastudygroup.org/white_papers/special-report-on-cubas-private-sector/

According to reports presented to the Economic Commission of Cuba’s National Assembly in July, Cuba has 11,369 private MSMEs, seventy-one non-agricultural cooperatives (CNA), and 305 state MSMEs. In total, Cuba has 19,428 economic entities: 2,843 are state-owned entities, 110 joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned companies, 5,106 are cooperatives, 11,369 are private MSMEs, 305 are state-owned MSMEs, and seventy-one are non-agricultural cooperatives.

The decentralisation process in relation to MSMES began in sixteen selected municipalities. They have so far authorised 231 new economic actors. In June, 28 municipalities were added to this number. ONEI’s figures suggest that over the last five years the state-economy contracted by 11%.

Highlights in this issue:

  • China and Cuba close to restructuring public and private debt and using Renminbi for trade
  • Complete loss of power again affects whole country for extended period
  • Regional and municipal governments told to plan to raise more revenue in 2026
  • Sheinbaum says Mexico will continue to receive Cuban doctorsUS Judge overturns jury’s Helms-Burton related decision

15 September 2025, Issue 1293

The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch

Read More
Discover our Subcriptions