The Cuban writer and political analyst Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo warned in an interview with Tania Costa that the Cuban diaspora represents an existential threat to the Havana regime, pointing out that decades of "exporting" its own population have created the conditions for one of those exiles to destroy the system from the outside.
In a conversation with CiberCuba, Pardo Lazo used a powerful metaphor to illustrate his point. "When you have such a large diaspora, when you have exported your population for so long, you run the risk that one of those heretics, one of those non-Cubans, as they say in Havana, non-Cubans of Cuban origin, ex-Cubans, well, one of those individuals could destroy the empire you built back in Havana."
The writer went further with another historical image. "One of those gladiators you voted to kick out can turn to Rome and bring the empire to its ruin."
Pardo Lazo pointed to the case of Marco Rubio —the son of Cuban immigrants and current Secretary of State of the U.S. since January 2025— as a concrete example of this phenomenon, although he clarified that it is a "one-person" fact, not the result of large sums of Cuban-American money being politically mobilized.
In the same analysis, the writer delivered a direct message to Cuban-American entrepreneurs considering investing in Cuba: doing so under the current conditions of the regime amounts to financial suicide.
"Any money that is invested in Cuba, any house that is bought in Cuba without a system of rights, without a system that respects financial, economic, and eventually political rights, you are committing suicide," he stated, citing as an example the entrepreneurs who have ended up imprisoned on the island with their assets confiscated.
Instead, Pardo Lazo suggested that the investment from the diaspora serve as a lever for political transformation. "Make sure that your money is an Archimedes lever for democratic change."
His call to entrepreneurs was explicit: "Don't invest to make millions; invest to make trillions of dollars in Cuba. And that can be done when you can put the money into a free chamber of commerce, in a free economy."
The writer envisioned the potential of a transformed Cuba: "Turn it into the new Cancun or whatever, when it's possible."
The analysis by Pardo Lazo comes at a time when the Cuban regime is desperately seeking to attract foreign capital. In April 2026, Havana approved Decree-Law 117/2026, establishing a special migration status for Cubans residing abroad who wish to invest in the island in sectors such as tourism, energy, and food.
However, analysts dismiss this opening as inadequate. The Cuban-American businessman Carlos Saladrigas was emphatic on the matter: “There will be no investment in Cuba without political change”, demanding legal guarantees and an independent judiciary as minimum conditions.
Pardo Lazo also described the current Cuban regime not as a traditional dictatorship, but as a system "disconnected from reality" that can no longer provide water, electricity, health care, or education to the Cuban people, which he believes marks a historically irreversible transition phase.
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