Cuban Leader Appeals to Expatriate Investment: "A Chance to Be Economic Stakeholders"

On Friday, Miguel Díaz-Canel unveiled a sweeping set of economic reforms, prominently featuring a policy to formally welcome investments from Cubans residing abroad. This announcement was made during a press briefing from the Cuban Presidency, which was broadcasted on the "Buenos Días" program.

The Cuban leader emphasized that emigrants will be allowed to engage in economic activities alongside foreign direct investment and state-owned enterprises "on equal footing."

All this would occur within a "stable legal framework that ensures business security over time, is respectful, guarantees safety, and above all, encourages and stimulates participation from its stakeholders."

This declaration comes not during a period of prosperity, but amid a severe emergency.

Current Economic and Energy Challenges

As of June 2026, Cuba is enduring an unprecedented energy crisis. Díaz-Canel acknowledged that "in the last five months, only one oil tanker has arrived in Cuba," blaming the situation on the "criminal energy blockade."

In May, the electricity shortfall exceeded 2,100 MW, resulting in power outages lasting more than twenty hours daily in various provinces. On the day of the announcement, the available electricity was merely 980 MW, while demand surpassed 2,500 MW.

Compounding the energy crisis is the collapse of tourism. In the first four months of 2026, Cuba welcomed just 328,608 international tourists, a 55.8% decline compared to the same period in 2025, marking the worst downturn in two decades.

The mass exit of international hotel chains—Meliá, Iberostar, Blue Diamond Resorts, and Archipelago International—driven by secondary sanctions from Trump's Executive Order 14404 signed on May 1, has left the regime without partners to run its tourism infrastructure.

Reforms Amidst Skepticism

This very crisis prompted Díaz-Canel to publicly invite expatriates on June 5, in an interview with the Spanish outlet elDiario.es, to invest in and manage hotels: "We are proposing different business modalities. Cubans who want to invest and manage hotels. We are open to that."

The legal framework for this opening already exists on paper: in April, the Council of State approved Decree-Law 117/2026, establishing the migratory status of "Investors and Business" for Cubans residing abroad, formalized in the Official Gazette on May 5.

The process costs 3,500 Cuban pesos and is handled through Cuban consulates, with a resolution timeline of thirty working days.

The reform package presented on Friday covers six major areas: economic management system, municipal autonomy, business autonomy, agricultural recovery, foreign trade, and foreign investment.

Díaz-Canel announced that municipalities will be able to import and export without superior structures, manage foreign currency income, and approve investments from Cubans both in Cuba and abroad.

State enterprises, in turn, will be able to operate "without interference in their management," export and import directly, choose clients and suppliers, and retain part of the foreign currency they earn.

Additionally, the expedited approval of SMEs with pending files was announced, along with the reduction of the list of activities prohibited to the private sector.

However, skepticism among analysts and the diaspora remains deep-rooted.

Carlos Saladrigas, chairman of the Cuba Study Group, stated last Wednesday: "Investors will not invest in Cuba if there are no political changes."

For Cubans residing in the United States—the largest concentration of the diaspora—restrictions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) add an additional legal risk, making participation virtually unfeasible without exposure to sanctions.

Díaz-Canel himself was personally sanctioned by OFAC on June 4, alongside his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza and his stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta.

The leader admitted on Friday that opacity is part of the plan: "We cannot say everything so clearly because the enemy is watching everything we do."

The Economist Intelligence Unit projects a decline in Cuba's GDP of between 6.5% and 7.2% in 2026, making these reforms more of a desperate measure to plug the gaps left by decades of failed state management than a strategic gamble.