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The recent tour of Miguel Díaz-Canel through Vietnam, China, and Laos, officially presented as an effort to attract foreign investments, provoked a furious reaction from Cuban journalist Mónica Baró Sánchez, who denounced the contradiction of a leader traveling thousands of kilometers to offer the island to foreign entrepreneurs while continuing to shut the door on his own citizens.
In his message, Baró expressed regret that "so much effort was expended in the wars for independence in Cuba, only for a century later for any foreigner to be worth more than a Cuban, by the decision of Fidel Castro, and that even today any foreigner still enjoys more rights in Cuba than any of us."
His words reflected a sentiment shared by many sectors of the diaspora, who have managed to thrive in various countries, but do not find legal conditions to invest even in small businesses within their country of origin.
The contrast is evident. In Beijing, Díaz-Canel met with around 70 Chinese businessmen, to whom he assured that “Cuba is open to all proposals.” On his agenda, he included agreements in the biotechnological sector, with joint ventures already distributing Cuban medicines in over 2,000 hospitals in China.
He also sought financial commitments in Vietnam, a country that even organized a fundraiser of 14 million dollars to give to the Cuban regime. In Laos, the Cuban leader signed memoranda of political and economic cooperation.
But while it begs for investments in Asia, a legal framework remains in effect in Cuba that prohibits nationals residing on the island or in exile from participating in large-scale productive projects.
Access to licenses is limited to small self-employed trades, and participation in strategic sectors—energy, telecommunications, banking, foreign trade, or tourism—remains reserved for foreign or military enterprises, excluding Cuban human and financial capital.
For critics like Baró, this policy represents an extension of the logic established by Castro since 1959: a national estate managed as the regime's private property, deciding who has access to economic opportunities and who is left behind.
"There are plenty of Cubans eager to start businesses and invest in their country,” the journalist reported, but the government prefers “to cater to 70 Chinese rather than allow Cubans to have rights over their land.”
The historical backdrop accentuates the paradox: after 66 years of dictatorship, Cubans witness the handover of national wealth to allied autocracies, while they remain without the right to decide or invest in the country for which so many gave their lives.
Díaz-Canel's trip aimed to show openness, but only towards the outside. Within, Cuba remains closed off to its own children.
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