The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, announced this Wednesday before the National Assembly of People's Power that a new "mechanism for management, control, and allocation of foreign currency" will be implemented in the second half of 2025, as part of the so-called “Government Program to correct distortions and reinvigorate the economy.”
According to Marrero, the new model will include the transformation of the official exchange market, the consolidation of financing schemes, and the supposed more efficient redistribution of the foreign currency generated by state-owned enterprises.
What the prime minister did not mention is that this “transformation” is the third one in three years. And that the visible face of the previous two, the former minister Alejandro Gil Fernández, was dismissed in February 2024 on corruption charges.
Marrero assures that there will indeed be changes now. That entities will directly receive the foreign currency they generate, which will increase the availability of products. But the Cuban people have heard that promise before.
She heard it in 2022, when the "fundamented" buying and selling of foreign currency was announced. In 2023, when the collapse of the Cadecas and the 100-day queues to exchange 100 dollars was acknowledged. In 2024, when there was talk of "flexibilization" of the exchange rate amidst a disguised dollarization.
Today, in 2025, the informal market continues to set the trend, the Cuban peso is worth nothing, and remittances from emigrants are the support for millions of households.
The architect of change, dismissed
Alejandro Gil was the main driver behind the foreign exchange market established in 2022 and the new regime of 2024, both presented as "structural" solutions to capture foreign currency and curb the informal market. In both cases, the result was the same: an inefficient, restrictive, and profoundly unequal system.
Gil was removed from his position in February 2024 amidst a political storm after publicly acknowledging the failure of the Tarea Ordenamiento, the decline in food production, the inability to supply imports, and the impossibility of controlling inflation. His successor, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, is now leading the monetary strategy, although still without visible results.
While the regime was sidelining him, Gil stated on television that "life is hard", but that the only way out was "the revolution and socialism." For many Cubans, his phrase became a symbol of institutional cynicism.
The "new phase" of the currency market seems to once again focus on state-owned companies and sectors, without clarifying what will happen regarding access to foreign currency for the citizens. Meanwhile, Cubans are still forced to buy dollars on the street to purchase food, medicines, or pay for immigration procedures, in an economy where everything costs more if paid in MLC.
For a long time, experts have warned that any attempt to reorganize the exchange system without an inclusive policy will only deepen inequality. Without real access to foreign currency, the population remains trapped in a parallel economy that punishes the most vulnerable.
Instead of de-dollarizing, as the official narrative claims, the reality shows that Cuba is more dollarized than ever, and the Cuban peso continues to lose purchasing power day by day.
With this new announcement, the government once again asks for patience and trust. However, after so many failures, Cubans want results, not promises.
Filed under:
