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The Council of State of Cuba approved on Friday the Decree-Law "On the Migratory Status of Investors and Businesses of Cuban Citizens Residing Abroad", formally opening the possibility for Cuban emigrants to invest in the island under a recognized legal framework.
The regulation establishes a special migratory category for those who participate in the Cuban economy and eliminates the historical restriction that limited investments solely to permanent residents in Cuba.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who announced the package of measures on March 16, emigrants will be able to invest in micro, small, and medium enterprises, create or participate in financial institutions, open bank accounts in foreign currency, participate in investment funds, develop agricultural businesses with access to usufruct lands, and operate as providers of virtual asset services.
"This opens up a different space for the participation of this community in the economic and social development of 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," stated Pérez-Oliva Fraga.
One of the most significant changes is that emigrants will be able to own, partner in, or promote businesses, and that the Cuban private sector will be able to collaborate with foreign companies owned by Cubans in the diaspora, which is estimated to be over two million people, primarily in the United States.
However, the opening comes at the worst economic moment for Cuba in decades. The GDP has fallen by 23% since 2019, with a projected contraction of 7.2% in 2026 according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, daily blackouts of up to 30 hours, and an electricity generation deficit exceeding 1,900 megawatts.
The energy crisis worsened after the cutoff of subsidized Venezuelan oil supply—about 35,000 barrels per day—following Nicolás Maduro's fall in January 2026, along with the suspension of shipments from Mexico that same month.
The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, rejected the measures since their announcement: "What they announced is not drastic enough, it won't fix anything," and directly questioned: "Who is going to invest billions in a communist country?"
The distrust of the diaspora is not just ideological. The case of Frank Cuspinera Medina, founder of the supermarket Diplomarket —known as the "Cuban Costco"— illustrates the concrete risks.
Cuspinera was arrested in 2024 and has been in pretrial detention for over a year, accused of tax evasion and money laundering, while his company was intervened and expropriated by military auditors linked to GAESA.
The lawyer Laritza Diversent, from Cubalex, warns that the regime uses criminal law to confiscate valuable properties, inviting investment and then imprisoning to seize businesses.
Additionally, since the end of 2025, numerous foreign companies have reported difficulties in transferring funds out of Cuba, which adds an extra layer of operational risk for any investor considering entering the market.
The economist Mauricio de Miranda warns that without political change, the reforms could follow the Russian model of the 90s, benefiting only the oligarchs connected to power.
An analysis by PanamericanWorld concludes that "the door is open. What is still lacking is convincing those on the other side that it is worth crossing."
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