The Cuban writer and political analyst Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo put forward a provocative thesis this Friday: that Cuba could take a path of progressive integration with the United States that could eventually lead to a political union similar to the debate that has remained unresolved for decades in Puerto Rico.
The proposal emerged from a interview with CiberCuba published this Friday, in which Pardo Lazo outlined a sequence of gradual integration between Florida and Cuba: first economic, then legal, followed by monetary, and finally political.
"I see almost an economic fusion between Florida and Cuba, and this economic fusion leads to a full understanding of business, where it's more advantageous to have an office here or there," stated the analyst.
In the monetary realm, Pardo Lazo presented a clear image: "There will be voices that will start to think about a fusion of laws similar to that of the European Union, perhaps a monetary fusion, because why print paper with Cuban martyrs when we could put Celia Cruz on the dollar?"
The analyst compared the potential Cuban process to the lengthy debate in Puerto Rico, where votes on statehood, free association, and independence have taken place in plebiscites held in 1967, 1993, 2012, 2017, and 2020, with no approval from the U.S. Congress for statehood.
"This economic fusion could eventually lead to thoughts of a political fusion, as has been discussed many times in Puerto Rico, where people vote on statehood, non-statehood, free association, and independence, and they can vote," he noted.
Pardo Lazo argued that the Cuban diaspora now represents, in practice, a deep integration with U.S. territory: "The Cuban people, consulted in a sovereign and free manner and with the necessary procedural guarantees, could surprise us. They could surprise us by saying: we are already here. We are already in Miami."
The data supports this interpretation: more than 2.5 million Cubans live in the United States, most of them in Florida, and bilateral trade grew by 148% between 2021 and 2025, despite the sanctions.
The proposal is made at a time of maximum pressure from Washington on Havana. Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 new sanctions against Cuba, intercepted at least seven fuel tankers, and reduced the island's energy imports by between 80% and 90%, resulting in blackouts of up to 25 hours a day.
In that context, Pardo Lazo also described the Cuban regime as a decaying system: "There is no revolution in Cuba anymore, there is no dictatorship; what exists is a regime disconnected from reality that cannot provide water, health care, sanitation, electricity, education, sports, television, it cannot provide anything."
The analyst also stated in the same interview that Marco Rubio "is risking the presidency of the United States", which would explain the intensity of the pressure on Havana beyond the electoral calculations in Florida.
Pardo Lazo concluded his reflection with a phrase that summarizes the radical nature of his thesis: "Perhaps the revolution was the longest path from neocolonialism to full economic and financial integration with the United States of America." He added, with a deliberate openness to debate: "One can agree or disagree."
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