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The Cuban regime, which for decades labeled its emigrants as traitors and "worms," is now opening its doors to them as potential investors amid the worst economic crisis the island has faced in generations.
The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) held an extraordinary plenary session of its Central Committee on Wednesday to validate a package of economic reforms announced by Miguel Díaz-Canel on June 12. This Thursday, the National Assembly of People's Power was called to an extraordinary session to formally ratify the changes.
Among the most notable measures is the opening to investment by Cubans residing abroad on equal terms with other economic actors, a shift that stands in stark contrast to decades of official rhetoric.
The legal framework was already underway before the plenary session. The Council of State approved the Decree-Law 117/2026, which established the migration status of "Investors and Business" for Cuban citizens abroad, published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 60 and effective from May 5, 2026.
The authorized sectors include small and medium enterprises, investment funds, hospitality, infrastructure, energy, mining, tourism, and the banking and financial sector.
The historical contradiction is immense. The term "gusano" was first used by Fidel Castro on January 2, 1961, to refer to those who left the country, and it reached its most visible point during the Mariel exodus in 1980, when the acts of repudiation against those who emigrated were a violent expression of that official policy.
The columnist Gina Montaner, in an analysis piece published this Thursday in El Mundo, succinctly captured the paradox: "they even invite the exiles (once 'worms') to invest in the land they had to flee from, and if it still stands, it is thanks to the remittances that they have sent to their families for decades."
For Montaner, the real message behind the official language regarding "economic and social transformations" to "resolve the contradictions of the current economic model" is a different one.
"It's every man for himself before the hurricane winds from Washington blow apart the passageways of Castroism," he warned.
The PCC plenary also approved the reduction of ministries from 27 to between 20 and 21, greater municipal and business autonomy, and the easing of foreign trade.
According to information from the conclave, Raúl Castro expressed that he is "fully in agreement with the proposals" through a document presented at the meeting, confirming that the nonagenarian is the final arbiter of any change.
The response from the exile community, however, is skeptical. On June 6, Cuban-American entrepreneurs founded the Cuban American National Chamber of Commerce in Miami, chaired by Juan Omar Sixto, with the explicit declaration that they will only invest in a free and democratic Cuba, in accordance with Title II of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.
The diaspora cites the lack of real legal guarantees, accumulated historical distrust, the absence of a stable democratic framework, and U.S. sanctions as concrete obstacles to any investment.
This is not the first time the regime has attempted this shift. During the thaw with the administration of Barack Obama (2014-2016), there were similar expectations that the immobilist forces within the PCC itself ultimately blocked.
The difference now, as Montaner points out, is that time is running out: "They neither wanted nor knew how to jump off the train that is derailing."
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