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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba shared on its website this Wednesday recent statements from the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, regarding the measures put in place by the government to attract investments from Cubans living abroad.
More than a technical reform, Pérez-Oliva's announcement targets a very specific political and economic objective: attracting capital from the exile to an economy suffocated by a lack of foreign currency, a decline in production, and the state's limited ability to reactivate key sectors.
The novelty lies not only in allowing new modes of participation for exiles, but also in the shift of the official discourse towards a community that for years has been recognized primarily as a source of remittances, rather than as a direct partner in investment.
With these new rules, the Government aims to turn Cubans abroad into potential investors, especially in areas such as agriculture, financial services, and private businesses.
Pérez-Oliva's statements come at a time of increasing economic deterioration on the island, as the government faces an urgent need for liquidity.
Among the most significant changes, the possibility was emphasized, for the first time, that Cubans without residency in the country can directly invest in private companies and partner with national economic actors in the non-state sector.
"This opens a different space for the participation of this community in the economic and social development of the country," he/she affirmed.
The opening includes the option to make investments through companies established abroad under the provisions of Law 118 on Foreign Investment, a framework that was previously restricted to ties with state entities.
The Cuban government is attempting to partially relax its traditional economic control framework while still maintaining existing regulatory mechanisms.
In the financial arena, authorities propose to permit the participation of emigrants in the creation of non-banking financial institutions and investment banks, with prior authorization from the Central Bank of Cuba. Additionally, they will be allowed to open accounts in foreign currencies under conditions similar to those for residents in the country.
"We are talking about alliances that could be established, for example, between the Cuban private sector and foreign capital linked to our diaspora," she clarified.
He also recalled that residents abroad now have the opportunity to participate in investment funds and agricultural projects with access to land on usufruct.
However, the announcement comes at a time when there are growing doubts about the actual viability of attracting external capital without deep structural changes in the Government of Cuba.
Cubans abroad do not trust the regime and refuse to invest in Cuba
Last week, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, reiterated that in the case of Cuba, "you can't fix the economy if you don't change the system of government," directly questioning the ability of the socialist model to generate trust and convince international investors.
In that same vein, Rubio asked: "Who will invest billions in a communist country?", emphasizing that the lack of institutional guarantees is a key obstacle to any significant investment.
The Cuban government promises greater administrative efficiency and improved management of business opportunities, but the new measures seem more focused on than fundamentally transforming the rules of the regime's economic system.
"The doors of Cuba are open for investment from the Cuban community residing abroad," stated Pérez-Oliva Fraga.
The challenge, however, will be to translate that "openness" into real confidence for investors who have historically faced legal uncertainty, operational restrictions, defaults, bureaucratic delays, and a highly centralized economic environment.
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