- Cuba Transformación calls for political changes to transform the country into a social market economy supported by a democratic state governed by the rule of law.
- Negotiations with the United States are essential, they say, to achieve a relaxation of sanctions.
14ymedio, Madrid, July 20, 2026 – Cuba Transformación believes that an initial phase of “stabilization and emergency” aimed at “halting macroeconomic deterioration,” addressing the energy crisis, and reviving agriculture and tourism will take approximately three years. The working group, announced last June and made up of five independent Cuban experts tasked with developing a proposal for economic transformation, considers it “essential” that, before any viable plan can begin, negotiations take place through which the United States eases sanctions, since their continuation, they argue, “constitutes one of the main obstacles to recovery.”
The document is 120 pages long, although the specialists—Mauricio De Miranda, Omar Everleny Pérez, Ricardo Torres, and Pavel Vidal, all critics of the current regime, although Vidal is also among the experts consulted by Díaz-Canel—have prepared a 19-page executive summary outlining its main principles. In the introduction, the text makes clear that it is neither a response to nor a complement of the 176 measures presented by the Cuban government, but rather its own methodology and sequence of reforms. Its premise is clear: Cuba should become a social market economy supported by a democratic state governed by the rule of law, including multiparty elections, freedom of association, freedom of the press and expression, transparency, and the subordination of state powers to the law.
Furthermore, the transformation must be “conceived, led, and carried out by Cubans themselves, in the national interest” and in order to avoid the loss of sovereignty. However, the exile community will play a fundamental role, they argue, not only because of its Cuban identity but also because of its experience, networks, and capital. Another essential component will be the international community, which they urge to create an assistance fund that would be crucial in ensuring that the enormous initial costs of rebuilding a currently decapitalized system do not fall on the population, especially its most vulnerable sectors.
Another essential component will be the international community, which they urge to create an assistance fund that would be crucial in ensuring that the enormous initial costs of rebuilding a currently decapitalized system do not fall on the population
The document insists that, at present, the suspension of fuel shipments from Venezuela and the threat of sanctions against both countries that might sell hydrocarbons to Cuba and companies that do business with the regime are preventing recovery. That does not mean, however, that responsibility is attributed solely to the United States. The economists argue that the current crisis “is not a temporary phenomenon nor can it be explained exclusively by recent external shocks.” Instead, those shocks have had such a profound impact because they struck “an economy that had already accumulated structural weaknesses, limited adjustment capacity, and long-postponed reforms.”
The experts also warn that the situation is becoming more complicated in every respect, including Cuba’s de facto dependence on the United States—not at the state level, but because remittances largely originate there. In the experts’ view, money and shipments from relatives have become the equivalent of the support once provided first by the Soviet Union and later by Venezuela.
The document also states that reality has already imposed part of the adjustment. “The State has, in real terms, reduced its ability to finance public goods, investment, social services, and subsidies, while inflation and currency depreciation have severely eroded purchasing power.” Furthermore, “there has been a growing de facto commercialization of essential services. In this context, poverty ceases to be a residual phenomenon and becomes a structural feature of Cuban social reality,” it adds.
In response, the proposal should be divided into three phases, although the current document addresses only the first: stabilization and emergency. The other two phases, expected after the initial three-year period, are “reactivation and institutional development,” focused on structural reforms to increase competitiveness, improve resource allocation, restore financial credibility, and to implement “model consolidation,” aimed at defining the social contract and the medium- and long-term development strategy.
For now, the priority is to begin the first phase, which requires at least six priority areas detailed in the document. The first concerns macroeconomics and prices. Its key proposals include integrating all State entities, including Gaesa, into the civilian fiscal system and unifying the exchange rate market where three vastly different rates currently coexist, only one of which remotely reflects reality, under a managed floating system overseen by a Central Bank of Cuba that performs the functions appropriate to such an institution rather than merely implementing the regime’s directives. It also calls for price liberalization, the elimination of price caps, and updated wages and pensions. In addition, it proposes eliminating automatic subsidies and focusing assistance on vulnerable populations. It also suggests creating a stabilization fund to channel external resources and proceeds from asset sales. Transparency, especially in the national budget, is considered indispensable.
Regarding energy, the second area on the list and a top priority, the experts urgently call for contracting floating power plants and restoring thermoelectric plants. They also propose accelerating solar energy projects with storage capacity, approving new electricity rates, improving the quality of the domestic crude oil used in thermal plants, and opening the fuel import, distribution, and marketing market under a regulated framework.
Regarding energy, the second area on the list and a top priority, the experts urgently call for contracting floating power plants and restoring thermoelectric plants. They also propose accelerating solar energy projects with storage capacity and approving new electricity rates
Agriculture and tourism are also included in this phase. Among the priority objectives are eliminating the state procurement system and replacing it with voluntary contracts at market prices, allowing private participation in the agricultural sector—a measure that apparently has already been approved—and creating a market for buying, selling, and leasing farmland. The document calls for tax and tariff incentives to encourage investment in agricultural infrastructure and greater digitalization of agricultural marketing. It also considers it necessary to guarantee a stable energy supply to tourist destinations, strengthen their ties with local producers, and reposition the Cuba brand.
Regarding property rights and business transformation, the proposal calls for eliminating obstacles to the growth of small and medium-sized private enterprises (mipymes), with tax incentives to encourage expansion. At the same time, it recommends breaking up the military conglomerate Gaesa by transferring its companies, assets, and foreign currency holdings to civilian institutions and the Central Bank, while closing or restructuring unviable state-owned enterprises and creating “transparent” privatization processes.
The fifth section addresses “external integration.” It calls for eliminating the state’s monopoly on foreign trade, a measure already contemplated by the regime, formally applying for Cuba’s membership in the principal international financial institutions, restructuring the country’s foreign debt, and beginning bilateral negotiations to resolve claims related to the property confiscations of the 1960s.
Finally, the document also focuses on “social protection and governance.” In this section, it considers it essential to establish a protection package to cushion the effects of labor market adjustment and to audit the program using mandatory social indicators. It also proposes reforming the Labor Code by recognizing diverse forms of property ownership, freedom of association for labor unions, and the right to strike. In addition, it calls for decentralizing fiscal authority and enforcing “strict anti-corruption frameworks.”
All of these measures, along with many others, should be implemented sequentially. While some, the authors note, can be introduced simultaneously, others require that certain reforms precede the rest.
The document concludes by calling on the international community for assistance and support, as well as inviting other experts to contribute to proposals that the authors do not consider final. “The strategic objective of this process is the construction of a social market economy within the framework of a democratic state governed by the rule of law. Expanding the role of the market and private initiative does not weaken the State, but rather redefines and strengthens its capabilities,” they conclude.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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