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The Cuban researcher and journalist José Raúl Gallego published a critical analysis this Friday in five points regarding the 176 economic measures presented by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero before the National Assembly, with a devastating conclusion: none of them address the country's socio-political system.
"None of them focus on the country's sociopolitical system, which leaves the root cause of all of Cuba's problems intact. Just with that, we can end the discussion," Gallego wrote on Facebook.
The researcher points out that the package—deemed by the regime as the most significant structural reform since the Special Period—is merely a recycling of transformations already proposed by Raúl Castro during the Obama era, which were never implemented or were reversed. "Many measures are a recycling of the transformations proposed by Raúl Castro during the Obama era, which were never executed or that they backed away from, although this time they have delved much deeper into the issue of currency and the role of private property," he noted.
Gallego acknowledges that the promotion of private property is essential for any prosperity project, but warns that in Cuba this principle clashes with a structural reality that invalidates it. "The changes proposed by the Cuban regime in this regard are situated in an environment where there is no free competition, institutional transparency, legal security, independence of powers, or a democratic system that allows for the contention and alternation of ideas and country projects," he wrote.
His diagnosis is straightforward: "The problem lies at the root of the system, not in the branches. Moreover, they will be applied poorly and late, in a completely exhausted and deformed system."
The most incisive point of the analysis focuses on who will actually benefit from the opening to private capital. According to Gallego, the ruling elite and their families have positioned themselves for years in key sectors of the economy and have the capital to expand. "This supposed opening to private ownership primarily benefits them and their relatives," he warned, adding that "what they previously owned disguised as state property, they will now have as private property, but with the concentration of political power that prevents others, due to their capabilities and initiative, from competing."
To illustrate this risk, Gallego draws a historical parallel: "It is a scenario very similar to what happened in former Soviet republics where the secretaries of the PCC became the new oligarchs." This comparison with the Soviet privatizations of 1992-1998 is also a recurring theme among other analysts who have examined the 176 measures of the Cuban regime.
Another central issue is the question of when the reforms are approved. Gallego questions why the regime is implementing them now, under pressure from Washington, instead of when the citizens demanded them for decades. “Despite the fact that the majority of the Cuban population has been requesting many of these measures for decades, they are only now being approved because a foreign government is pressuring them. So, who is the bad guy here?” he posed. U.S. Vice President JD Vance confirmed on Thursday that Washington is in contact with the regime and conditioned an improvement in relations on Havana making “smart decisions,” although the Cuban government rejected the notion that the reforms are a result of that pressure.
The announcement comes amid the worst economic crisis Cuba has faced in decades. The CEPAL forecasts a GDP contraction of 6.5% in 2026, following a decline of 3.8% in 2025. Cubans are dealing with power outages lasting between 20 and 40 consecutive hours and a chronic shortage of food and medicines. The 176 measures approved by the National Assembly include private banking, the transformation of state enterprises into joint-stock companies, and the removal of the limit of 100 workers for small and medium-sized private enterprises.
Gallego concludes that, at this historical moment, the goal should not be to analyze the regime's proposals but to push for its disappearance: "At this time, with the dictatorship on the brink of collapse and the historic opportunity to free ourselves from this corrupt mafia scum, what remains is to let them talk among themselves and to push, in every possible way and place, to eliminate castroism, along with its aftermath and minions, from our country once and for all."
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