The emergency economic package comes amid an ongoing US pressure campaign that has left the island nation reeling.<\/p>\n
Published On 18 Jun 202618 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s Communist Party has approved a raft of unprecedented free-market measures as part of an emergency economic package.<\/p>\n
The package was submitted to the country\u2019s National Assembly on Thursday, where it is all but assured to pass.<\/p>\n
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The plan would expand opportunities for private enterprise and create measures to attract additional foreign investment, including from Cubans abroad.<\/p>\n
It could also set the stage for private real estate development \u2060on the Caribbean island and the \u2060transformation of state-owned businesses \u2060into private commercial ventures with shares and equity stakes. It would also \u200callow private banks to enter Cuba\u2019s once state-dominated \u200cfinance \u200csector.<\/p>\n
The reform package signals a dramatic shift for Cuba, which is led by the Communist Party.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the party\u2019s Central Committee in a broadcast on Thursday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the country\u2019s dire economic situation could not be blamed on external pressure alone.<\/p>\n
For decades, the US has imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, weakening its economy. Since January, the US pressure against Cuba has increased, with the administration of President Donald Trump blocking fuel deliveries to the island.<\/p>\n
But Diaz-Canel acknowledged that some of the present-day economic strife was due to domestic factors, referencing \u201cobstacles that don\u2019t come from outside, nor the blockade\u201d.<\/p>\n
He pointed to \u201cslowness, bureaucracy and norms that impede those who want to produce\u201d as well as \u201cdecisions that we have put off\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the European Union also increased pressure on Cuba, passing a resolution that called for sanctions on Diaz-Canel and the leadership of Grupo de Administracion Empresarial SA, a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban military.<\/p>\n
The EU resolution condemned what it described as \u201cthe systematic repression\u201d by the Cuban government, while calling for \u201cprofound economic and political change\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his address, Diaz-Canel suggested there would likely be some opposition to the emergency economic plan from hardliners in the Communist Party, which has officially governed Cuba since 1965.<\/p>\n
Some of the reforms, he said, \u201cwill not have absolute consensus, but cannot be postponed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Former Cuban leader Raul Castro, who was indicted by the US in May, has also backed the plan.<\/p>\n
Trump administration officials, notably Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have repeatedly said that economic reforms could ease Washington\u2019s pressure campaign against the island. But the US did not immediately respond to the latest moves.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance was asked on Thursday if the Trump administration would now turn its sights to Cuba after reaching a memorandum of understanding to end the war on Iran.<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly floated both military attacks and what he has described as a \u201cfriendly takeover\u201d of Cuba.<\/p>\n
Vance responded that Washington wanted Cubans to be \u201chappy and successful\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re actually talking to the Cuban government right now about how they could change their ways to change that,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they make smart decisions, we\u2019re going to have a much better relationship with that island.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The emergency economic package comes amid an ongoing US pressure campaign that has left the island nation reeling.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,3426,48750,356,179,18,3428,19,17,11992,5,790],"class_list":["post-542443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-business-and-economy","tag-cuba","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-government","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latin-america","tag-news","tag-politics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116773560433867072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}