Cuba's president pushes for 'urgent' changes to island's economic and business model

(AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday that his government should “immediately” focus on implementing urgent transformations to the island’s economic and social model as oil reserves in the Caribbean country dwindle.

The comments made during a meeting of the Council of Ministers come as Cuba feels the squeeze of a recent oil blockade coupled with a halt in oil shipments from Venezuela after the US attacked the South American country in January.

“We must focus, immediately, on implementing the urgent, most necessary transformations that must be made to the economic and social model," he was quoted as saying by state-owned media.

Díaz-Canel said the push to transform Cuba’s economic and social model are tied to business and municipal autonomy and the resizing of the state apparatus, government and institutions, among other things, according to state-owned media.

He called on municipalities to manage issues including foreign direct investment; economic partnerships between the state and non-state sectors; and investments with Cubans residing abroad, according to state-owned media.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said Cuba’s priorities are focused on food production and changes to the island’s power grid as severe outages and interruptions in fuel supply persist.

The minister of energy and mines, Vicente de la O Levy, was quoted by state media as saying that progress in developing a transition strategy by municipalities is still slow despite the distribution of solar panels to doctors, teachers and children. He said municipalities need to have a sustainability strategy that relies on their own resources.

Last month, Cuba implemented austere fuel-saving measures, including halting some public transportation and moving classes online.

Last week, the US Treasury Department slightly eased restrictions on the sale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, but the island’s energy and economic crisis is expected to persist.

In addition to its energy woes, Cuba is struggling with a sharp increase in US sanctions that have stripped the island of nearly US$8 billion in revenue from March 2024 to February 2025, a loss that is nearly 50% higher compared with the previous period, according to government statistics.

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