Miguel Díaz-Canel presented on Wednesday, before the Extraordinary Plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, a reformation of the socialist economic model that can be summarized in one phrase: “If there is no wealth, there is nothing to distribute”, warning that without prior wealth generation, social justice becomes an empty concept.
The closing speech, delivered at the Palacio de la Revolución in Havana, marked a conceptual shift in relation to the redistributive language that the regime has maintained for decades.
“We either produce under these conditions, create wealth, and then distribute it with social justice, with equity, not with egalitarianism. That is the challenge,” the leader stated before the members of the Central Committee.
The implicit recognition that the model of generalized subsidies and contained salaries has run its course came with an admission of internal responsibilities.
"There are obstacles that do not come from outside or from blockades. There is slowness, bureaucracy, regulations that hinder those who want to produce, and decisions we have postponed. What depends on us, we must change ourselves, and we must change it now."
The package of transformations that Díaz-Canel had foreshadowed on June 12 is structured around five simultaneous fronts:
- macroeconomic stabilization
- transformation of the economic model
- recovery of the agricultural sector
- strengthening of cost management
- mitigation of social costs.
Among the specific measures announced, the regime will eliminate generalized price caps, acknowledging that "in practice they did not succeed in containing inflation" and caused products to disappear or diverted them into illegality.
Subsidies for products will also be replaced by direct support targeted at vulnerable individuals, the direct import and export without mandatory intermediaries will be authorized for state and private companies, and foreign direct investment in the national private sector will be opened up, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
For Cubans living abroad, Díaz-Canel offered a framework for economic participation. "This homeland does not have any good Cuban to spare at this hour," he said. He promised clear conditions for those who wish to invest or import technology from abroad.
In the energy sector, the leader stated that power outages are "a human, economic, and national issue," not just a technical one, and announced the removal of tariffs and taxes on solar technologies, as well as the opening up to foreign companies that supply panels, batteries, and inverters without intermediaries.
On the matter of land, he was also unequivocal. "There is no sovereignty with an empty plate. The food of the Cuban people will be treated as what it is: a matter of national security." In this regard, he promised to expand the allocation of land in usufruct and put an end to idle land.
The speech also announced the creation of the National Institute of Business Assets to separate regulatory functions from those of business management, as well as a reduction in the number of ministries from 27 to between 20 and 21.
The support from Raúl Castro for the reforms was presented in the plenary session by José Amado Ricardo Guerra, a member of the Political Bureau, who reported that the former leader participated via videoconference and expressed his "full agreement" with the measures.
The context surrounding these transformations is an unprecedented crisis: power outages lasting up to 18-24 hours daily in some provinces, an electricity deficit that exceeded 2,000 MW in May 2026, productive collapse, and inflation that has drastically separated real prices from salaries and pensions.
The popular reaction to the reforms was one of widespread skepticism, given the history of announced but unimplemented measures, while critical economists labeled the shift as "late pragmatism."
This Thursday, the Council of State convened an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power to formally ratify the package of transformations approved in the plenary session.
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