The Cuban content creator Emmanuel H. Castillo published a video on Instagram in which he dismantles the official narrative and argues that, rather than being a relief for emigrants, the new Law 171 on Migration in Cuba functions as a mechanism of asset protection for the regime's elite.
Castillo builds his argument on a clause that, according to him, "almost no one is reading": to maintain "effective migratory residency" — that is, full rights on the island even while living abroad — physical presence in Cuba is not required, but rather demonstrating "ties through family, work, economic, or property connections."
"Who has more properties, more accounts, and more well-placed family members in Cuba than the very elite that has governed for almost 70 years?" asks the content creator in the video.
The law had been approved by the National Assembly on July 19, 2024. Its most noticeable change is the removal of the 24-month limit outside the country, which automatically classified Cubans as "permanent emigrants," leading to the loss of rights over their property on the island.
But Castillo connects this law with another instrument that is already in effect: the Decree-Law 117/2026, published on May 5 in the Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 60, which establishes a special immigration status called "Investors and Businesses" for Cubans residing abroad.
This decree allows emigrants to operate in Cuba with full rights, provided they have the endorsement of a state entity.
"The Law 171 protects you from losing what you have. Decree 117 allows you to come back and manage it as if you had never left. One is the lock and the other is the key," summarizes Castillo.
The analysis gains significance when considering the timing of the regulatory package's publication: on May 5, two days before the U.S. Department of State announced sanctions against GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls between 40% and 70% of the Cuban economy, along with its CEO and the mining company Moa Nickel S.A.
Marco Rubio confirmed on May 8 that more sanctions will come in the upcoming days and weeks, clarifying that they are aimed at the regime, not the Cuban people.
For Castillo, the regime is sending a covert message to its own elite while presenting a different image to the world: "What the regime is telling its own people is not what it is telling the press. It is saying: move, reclassify according to the properties of the right name, and come in as an investor before they close everything down."
The content creator, who in March published another viral video about unity as the key to change in Cuba, also warns that Law 171 grants the MININT expanded powers to authorize or deny the entry, exit, or residency of citizens and includes exit prohibitions for "preservation of qualified workforce" or "protection of official information."
The new migratory status for investors also requires the payment of a tax of 3,500 Cuban pesos for documents, as stipulated by Resolution 93/2026 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, included in the same regulatory package.
"The law that protects the properties of emigrants, the one we all celebrate because it does have good aspects, is exactly the same law that provides the regime with the framework to protect the properties of the wealthiest in Cuba," concludes Castillo, summarizing the central paradox of his analysis: the same instrument serves two completely different purposes.
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