A Chinese technology company and a Mexican food marketing company will also be able to do so, although none of the three will be able to directly market their products on the Island.
14ymedio, Havana, June 1, 2025 — On Friday, Cuban authorities licensed three foreign companies to do business on the island. They will now be listed in the National Registry of Foreign Commercial Representatives, which will allow them to open branches on the island. The companies are the Mexican food marketing company Michoacana, the Chinese technology company Qingdao Hainergy, and — most notably — the American exporter Maravana Cargo, which already to ships second-hand vehicles from the United States.
With a 90-day deadline to formalize its registration, Maravana Cargo has permits to transport goods, “including sea and air parcels,” food “in all categories, automotive equipment in all categories, parts, pieces, and aggregates for the automotive sector.”
Always cautious when granting prerogatives to foreign companies and private businesses, especially those founded by Cuban-American entrepreneurs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment has made it clear just what Maravana Cargo can and cannot do on the island. It states that the company may neither “import 0r export directly for commercial purposes, nor distribute or transport merchandise within the the country’s borders.”
As explained at the time to 14ymedio, the company already had a counterpart on the Island: Maracuba, which is responsible, in addition to delivering packages in all provinces – it has a fleet of vans for this purpose – for delivering the vehicles to customers when they arrive at a Cuban port.
Maracuba’s counterpart on the island is Maravana, a company which owns a fleet of vans that it uses to deliver packages nationwide. It is also delivers imported vehicles to buyers after they have cleared Cuban customs
Maracuba’s counterpart on the island is Maravana, a company which owns a fleet of vans that it uses to deliver packages nationwide
The export license issued by the Treasury department prohibits the company from selling vehicles to members of the Communist Party and state-owned businesses.
Unlike the narrow license granted to Maravana, which is limited to the automotive and food sectors, those of Qingdao and Michoacana are much broader. The Chinese company has the green light to export to Cuba “goods and services from sectors such as the electronics industry, including household appliances, electrical equipment, renewable energy, information technology and telecommunications, air conditioning, educational and audiovisual media, medical equipment, refrigeration and boilers, lighting and irrigation equipment, motor vehicles, their parts, and spares.”
An addendum to the list of products the Chinese company is authorized to sell include medical equipment and furniture, toys and recreational items, land vehicles (including tractors and other vehicles used in the railway sector) audiovisual production equipment, and other equipment related to the energy sector, including nuclear reactors.
The restrictions imposed on the company are the same as those stated in Maravana Cargo’s license, and are repeated in the case of Michoacana.
The Mexican company is authorized to “produce and market food products
The Mexican company is authorized to “produce and market food products, inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides and other chemicals for crops and livestock, including raw materials for their production, as well as equipment and machinery associated with renewable energy sources.”
The three companies offer services and products that the Cuban government is unable to provide to its citizens, from scarce and expensive food items to vehicles that only a few can afford.
It remains to be seen how these companies will get around restrictions Havana has imposed to control private and foreign businesses and to monopolize the circulation of foreign currency on the island. The inability to repatriate their funds in dollars, a restriction the government implemented last April for all foreign companies operating in Cuba, will be one of these companies’ biggest challenges.
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