The U.S. State Department rejected Cuba’s new economic reform package, a 176-step plan, calling it “modest, very overdue, and ultimately a superficial smoke screen.” A State Department spokesman said the announcement was “part of the dictator’s playbook,” adding that Havana typically signals openness and then reverses course when political control is at stake. “They announce a series of so-called reforms to suggest a desire for change, and then quickly cancel all the changes once the regime’s full control is even slightly threatened,” he said.
Cuba’s parliament approved the package after it was presented by the ruling Communist Party as a way to strengthen the market economy and help the country cope with crises worsened by the U.S. oil embargo and sanctions. Officials in Havana described it as the broadest change to the island’s economic model since the 1959 revolution.
The measures expand space for private business, allow foreign investment in the private sector, permit direct imports and exports by private entities, authorize fast-food chains, and anticipate future approval of larger private companies. They affect private firms and state-owned companies alike, and cover banking, tourism, agriculture, foreign investment rules, taxes, wages, and the foreign exchange market.
Washington says Cuba would need much deeper economic and political reforms to attract investors and provide citizens with freedom, dignity, and opportunity. U.S. officials argue the current steps are limited and late, and do not alter the island’s basic economic system. President Donald Trump has also called Cuba an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and has repeatedly threatened to “take” control of the island.
Cuban officials say the changes are necessary to stabilize and revive an economy weakened by sanctions and oil pressure, which have contributed to severe shortages, power outages, and transport disruptions. Some voices in Cuba also rejected the U.S. security framing, saying Cuba does not threaten U.S. national security and that the two countries should engage in dialogue rather than confrontation.
