HAVANA – Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday announced a package of economic reforms aimed at attracting investment, expanding participation by Cubans living abroad in the economy and decentralizing parts of the country’s administration.
The president did not provide details about the measures or a timetable for their implementation but said during remarks to state media that it is now “time to change” and that the country “simply cannot continue on its current course.”
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“Every opportunity in the midst of a crisis must be seized as a moment for takeoff, as a moment for growth,” Díaz-Canel said, according to a statement from the presidency that was republished by state-run media. “We have established a group of priorities to confront this situation,” he added without offering specifics.
The announcement comes as Cubans have struggled with fuel shortages as a result of the U.S. oil blockade and food insecurity. In January, the United States tightened restrictions on Cuba’s oil supplies in an effort to pressure the island’s government to change its political and economic model, exacerbating challenges that have persisted for about five years.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Díaz-Canel said officials are evaluating measures related to foreign trade, exports, supply chains and logistics. Without elaborating, he suggested the government could eliminate mandatory state intermediaries in import and export operations and grant tariff benefits to those who bring raw materials into the country for production.
“The numbers don’t add up, and the government wants to make this look like a matter of will rather than a math problem,” Cuban economist Pedro Monreal wrote on X, in response to Díaz-Canel’s proposals.
The Spain-based former UNESCO official went on to criticize the collapse of a centralized planning model, for which he said “there are two respectable alternatives: assume the political price of failure, or self-critically rectify and drastically transform the model.”
For decades, Cuba maintained a centralized, vertical system under strict state control. This structure began to shift gradually over the last decade when the government introduced permits for independent workers. More recently, the state authorized the operation of the country’s first small- and medium-sized private enterprises.
Earlier Friday, a ship carrying nearly 100 tons of food and essential goods arrived from Colombia as part of the humanitarian aid that several countries have sent to Cuba in recent months as a U.S. energy embargo persists.
The ship, which departed Cartagena in early June, crossed the Havana Bay channel early in the morning flying the Colombian flag and escorted by a small Cuban auxiliary vessel, The Associated Press confirmed.
The Colombian Presidential Agency for International Cooperation said that, on orders of President Gustavo Petro, the shipment included nonperishable food, medicine, hospital supplies, electrical materials, solar panels and other items.
The ship also carried seven tons of goods collected by solidarity groups.
Last weekend, another ship carrying 1,700 tons of essential goods from Mexico and Belize arrived in Havana.
In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The move has deepened a preexisting crisis caused by U.S. sanctions. Washington is pressing the Cuban government to release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Cuba produces only 40% of its oil, leaving the island semiparalyzed and subjected to severe power outages.
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