The European Union (EU) allocated 8.5 million euros to an ambitious scientific cooperation program with the Cuban regime, in a partnership led by BioCubaFarma, the main state bio-pharmaceutical company on the island.
The project, named Biotec-Cuba, has the stated objective of strengthening research, development, and health regulation capabilities in Cuba, a country that is currently experiencing one of the most severe shortages of medications in its recent history.
Presented in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), the program is structured around two pillars. The first, managed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) along with BioCubaFarma and the University of Havana, aims to strengthen the national capacity to produce clinical supplies and innovative therapies.
The second, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), and the Center for State Control of Drugs (CECMED), aims to enhance the country's regulatory capacity, an essential step for Cuban-developed products to enter international markets.
The project is being implemented within the CIGB-Mariel Biotechnological Industrial Complex, a facility inaugurated in 2021 as a symbol of the regime's commitment to biotechnology as a strategic sector.
Cuban authorities have emphasized that this cooperation will enable the industry to advance more rapidly and meet the regulatory standards required by Europe and other regions, according to a report from the National Television News (NTV).
However, this million-dollar investment has raised legitimate criticisms and not a few suspicions. The concerns are not about the program's objective, but rather about the entity responsible for its execution: BioCubaFarma.
This business conglomerate, created by the regime in 2012, encompasses over 30 companies and research centers, and has been the face of Cuban biotechnological advances. However, it is also one of the most opaque state institutions in the country.
Despite controlling a significant portion of Cuba's production and export of pharmaceuticals, BioCubaFarma has faced severe criticism from specialists and independent organizations, who challenge its resource management and its absolute priority on the external market, even as the Cuban population faces a critical shortage of essential medications.
Hundreds of products —from basic pain relievers to treatments for chronic diseases— have disappeared from pharmacies, while medications are being allocated for export or to the military and tourist hospital systems.
Access to public information regarding contracts, foreign currency earnings, and the execution of foreign funds for BioCubaFarma is practically nonexistent.
This pattern of opacity is not exclusive to BioCubaFarma. In the Cuban biopharmaceutical environment, Labiofam also operates, a state-owned company that for decades was led by José Antonio Fraga Castro, nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro.
Labiofam has been at the center of various controversies, including the promotion of products lacking scientific endorsement and the use of state resources in dubious image campaigns.
In 2019, Cuban lawyer Sergio Osmín Fernández Palacios reported that Fraga Castro may have been involved in a money laundering scheme through an offshore company in the Bahamas, operating for twenty years. To date, Cuban authorities have not launched any investigations into these events.
Although Labiofam is not listed among the official players in the Biotec-Cuba project, its history is part of the framework that helps to understand how the Cuban biopharmaceutical ecosystem operates: a closed state model, without independent oversight mechanisms, directly linked to the political elite and with preferential access to international funds.
The concern over the use of these resources is not limited to Cuba. In Brussels, the involvement of opaque state entities connected to the power of the totalitarian regime in projects funded by the European Union has been harshly criticized by MEPs and human rights organizations.
In 2022, Spanish MEP Hermann Tertsch denounced that the Cooperation and Political Dialogue Agreement (ACDP) between the EU and Cuba was being used by the regime to gain international legitimacy while increasing internal repression.
In 2024, several MEPs demanded sanctions against Miguel Díaz-Canel and the suspension of the agreement, citing the lack of progress on human rights as a sufficient reason to halt financial support to Havana.
Sweden, one of the most critical member states, has publicly questioned the viability of the agreement and called for its review. Activists like Carolina Barrero have demanded that the EU adopt a more consistent stance regarding what they see as a political and repressive use of cooperation funds.
Nevertheless, the Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas has defended the continuation of the agreement, arguing that it provides a necessary framework for dialogue. However, that narrative does not convince everyone.
However, members of Cuban civil society are reporting that the funded projects have not had a tangible impact on the lives of Cuban citizens and that the control mechanisms are insufficient to ensure that the funds are not misappropriated.
In this context, Biotec-Cuba emerges as a paradigmatic case: a project with seemingly noble objectives, but executed by actors with questionable backgrounds, in a country lacking guarantees of transparency or institutional oversight.
Can a system designed to serve political power ensure the honest use of millions of euros in international cooperation? Does the European Union have real tools to audit these funds and demand accountability?
As long as there are no clear answers, doubt will continue to linger in the air, alongside a troubling certainty: in the Cuban pharmaceutical sector, political and economic interests often prevail over the population's right to health.
And European funding, although well-intentioned, runs the risk of reinforcing the very system that contributes to scarcity and silence.
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