Under another name, the regime offers the same recipes that have led the country to an unprecedented crisis.
14ymedio, Havana, 3 March 2026 — The lessons of the past have not sunk in at the top of the Cuban power structure, which continues to stumble, time and again, over the same stone in its failed attempts to save “the economic and social model.” After the 2021 ‘Ordering Task‘, which plunged the country into misery, Miguel Díaz-Canel is now asking his ministers to focus “immediately on implementing the most urgent and necessary transformations,” this without touching the current socialist model.
The Associated Press (AP) echoed the Cuban president’s demand, and countless newspapers— including the Washington Post—have reprinted a story that, beyond the headline, contains nothing new: “to implement the urgent, most necessary transformations that must be made to the economic and social model.”
The president’s words generated widespread anticipation, not only within the US news agency, which emphasized the context in which they occurred—the oil embargo—but also among other sectors critical of the government, like the economist Pedro Monreal, based in Spain. However, Monreal was initially disappointed by the original information published in the State newspaper Granma. “What the press release describes doesn’t suggest that the government has a robust plan for transforming Cuba’s economic model. It would be necessary to go beyond the 10 aspects mentioned,” he said.
Hours later, the economist offered a harsher analysis. “The current economic model cannot be improved by replacing obsolete parts. The current model is exhausted, but it maintains an internal coherence that must be dismantled and replaced by another, also internally coherent, but discordant with the previous one,” he stated on his X account. Monreal pointed out that “the structural crisis expresses the nature of an economic impasse that cannot be overcome within the model” and that if the word reform is not to be used, it is at least imperative to call it “structural transformation.”
The current model is exhausted, but it maintains an internal coherence that must be dismantled and replaced by another, also internally coherent, but discordant with the previous one,” he stated on his X account.
In any case, the expert believes that the document called ‘Conceptualization,’ which defined “centralized socialist planning as a ‘central component’ of the model and ‘ownership by all the people’ as the basis of the economic system,” are “precisely two crucial aspects to modify in a structural reform.” Monreal believes it is imperative to involve all of society to reach an agreement on the necessary changes and accuses the government of perpetuating a “casting error” by “entrusting the transformations to the same team (…) that designed and implemented the programmatic folly of the ‘Reorganization,’ the ineffective patches that followed, and the bureaucratic contraption they call a ‘Government program.'”
What was discussed at the Council of Ministers was widely reported by the official press, making it clear that no changes have been announced. The mere list Díaz-Canel presented of these transformations demonstrates this: “They are fundamentally related to business autonomy, municipal autonomy, the resizing of the state apparatus, the government, and institutions; national food production, municipal budgets, the shift in the energy matrix, which includes not only renewable sources but also everything related to domestic crude oil; exports, linking them to the flexibilities approved for foreign direct investment; leveraging economic partnerships between the state and private sectors, especially at the municipal level; and promoting business with Cubans residing abroad,” he said. Each and every one of these was approved long ago.
The meeting focused on the role of municipalities and the importance of them taking control of decisions that were placed in their hands years ago. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero emphasized this idea, which is hardly original. For at least two years, the government has repeatedly invoked the concept of municipal decentralization, which, while potentially offering advantages—decisions being made locally and with a better understanding of each area’s needs—ultimately served more as a mechanism for diluting responsibility. Since mid-2024, for example, the approval of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) has been a municipal power, so Marrero’s words didn’t signify any real change.
“The municipalities have to manage foreign direct investment; municipalities have to manage their own closed schemes in foreign currency; municipalities have to manage economic partnerships between the state and non-state sectors; municipalities have to design and propose their local production systems; and they have to manage investments with Cubans residing abroad,” he said.
It is true that the approval of the decree on the Decentralization of Powers and Transfer of Resources to the Territories, at the end of December 2025, is recent. But in its resistance to relinquishing control, the Government reserved for itself “the final power to approve everything, as well as the ability to add further exclusions to decentralization, concentrating the power of veto and redefinition of the process at the central level,” as criticized, among others, by the official publication La Joven Cuba, which also acknowledged the lack of training and capacity in municipalities to suddenly make decisions. “Decree 140/2025 is more of a declaration of intent than a true decentralizing public policy,” it concluded.
What emerged from the Council of Ministers, as if it were the big thing, was the renaming of the “Government Program to correct distortions and revitalize the economy”, which will now be called the “Government Economic and Social Program for 2026”
The Council of Ministers announced, as if it were the big thing, the renaming of the “Government Program to Correct Distortions and Revitalize the Economy,” which will now be called the “Government Economic and Social Program for 2026.” However, the state of the economy remains largely unchanged. The Minister of Health, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, stated that “generally, goods exports are falling short,” with the exception of honey, tobacco, lobster, rum, and pharmaceuticals. Sales of services are currently performing better, although the outlook is bleak. Tourism reached only 85% of projections, but February is expected to bring even worse conditions, following the cancellation of countless flights due to fuel shortages. Health sector exports are nearly at 100% of their targets, officials affirmed, although announcements of the suspension of agreements to contract out Cuban doctors for overseas missions are happening daily.
Regarding agricultural production, there is very bad news, all attributed to “the hostile US policy,” which means that despite the effort, “they still do not meet the demands of the population, they are insufficient and do not cover the deficits of imported food foreseen in the plan.”
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, also spoke about the energy transition – with no new developments, on that part. “Progress has been made, but concrete actions are needed in each of the provinces and municipalities to make them more energy sovereign,” he said.
There was no clear data on debts and defaults, although Marrero warned that the actions taken to address the debts are numerous but “insufficient,” leaving behind an unknown that no one wants to discuss. “The Council of Ministers reviewed the results of the Development and Business Program and Mariel Special Development Zone for the end of 2025, an important economic enclave for the nation which, despite the tense situation in Cuba, confirms its strategic value for attracting national and foreign investment.” No figures were presented to assess the current state of this free trade zone, which was expected to generate some $2.5 billion annually but had barely reached that amount in its first decade.
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