The Cuban-American businessman Carlos Saladrigas presented in a live interview a detailed roadmap for the reconstruction of Cuba: the entire process will take at least seven years and will require an initial investment of between 6,000 and 10,000 million dollars just in its first phase.
Saladrigas divides the process into three stages. The first—stabilization—is the most urgent and costly. "Our estimates indicate that this initial phase should take between 2 to 4 years. Hopefully, it can be done in three, and it will cost around 6 to 10 billion dollars, no less," he stated. This stage aims to transition Cuba from what he describes as a "failed" economy to a point where private and foreign investment finds it attractive, and it includes stabilizing the electrical grid, ensuring food humanitarian aid, restoring education and public health, and maintaining public order.
The financing for this first phase would primarily fall on the Cuban diaspora, the United States government —in a Marshall Plan-style— and, to a lesser extent, the European Union and Latin America. Saladrigas warns that Cuba lacks natural resources to facilitate the process: "Cuba has no oil. The money needed for the transition isn't going to come from under the ground. We Cubans have to work hard for it."
The second phase —infrastructure reconstruction— would take approximately five additional years and would involve rebuilding ports, airports, roads, and drinking water systems, in addition to modernizing the economy. Saladrigas warns that Cuba will need to import young people and open immigration to offset the aging population. The third phase is the "vision": turning Cuba into a financial center of the Caribbean comparable to Singapore or Israel, leveraging its human capital, geographic location 90 miles from the United States, and sectors such as medical tourism and artificial intelligence.
Saladrigas is categorical about the sanctions: "It is impossible, impossible for the Cuban economy to recover based on these sanctions," he stated, emphasizing that their complete lifting is an essential condition for any recovery. Regarding the negotiations between the Trump administration and the Cuban regime —revealed by USA Today and Axios on March 8— he took a pragmatic stance: "It is what it is. It's pure pragmatism," although he lamented that Cubans do not have direct agency in the process.
The interview takes place at a moment of unprecedented economic collapse. The Cuban economy contracted by 5% in 2025, accumulating a decline of 15% since 2020, according to the Center for Cuban Economy Studies. Blackouts exceed 20 hours a day, the Cuban peso went from 24 per dollar in 2019 to over 450 in 2025, and tourism plummeted from 4.7 million to 1.8 million visitors between 2018 and 2025.
Saladrigas, who has been advocating for Cuba's economic opening since 2001 and has trained over 15,000 Cuban entrepreneurs for free through the Cuba Emprende Foundation, harshly summarizes the failure of the revolutionary model: "They have been mistaken for 67 years: they have fought against wealth instead of fighting against poverty, which is the right thing to do." His vision for the future, however, is ambitious: "I want a Cuba that is extraordinary, that is exceptional, and that is a major financial center in the Caribbean in 10 to 15 years."
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