The Cuban deputy Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes stated on Monday a phrase that encapsulates the new official narrative regarding the economic reforms approved by the regime: "We cannot distribute poverty; what we need to share is wealth."
The statement was made during his participation in the program Cuadrando la Caja, which is dedicated to discussing the scope of the 176 measures for economic and social transformation ratified by the National Assembly on June 18 and 19.
Pérez Reyes, founder of the technological small and medium-sized enterprise Dofleini S.R.L. and deputy for the Playa municipality in Havana, emphasized that these reforms should not be seen merely as an emergency response to the crisis, but rather as changes that Cuba "had to implement regardless."
"We should have taken these initiatives a while ago; we are now taking them, and it has been difficult; achieving consensus has not been easy. It is true that the context forced us to act more quickly, more quickly than we would have preferred," the deputy admitted.
Her central thesis argues that the socialist state must become a redistributor of the wealth generated by all economic actors: the people, entrepreneurs, and the Cuban diaspora.
"We need to provide our people, our entrepreneurs, and our migrants with the tools to generate the wealth that the State, which is socialist—not the companies—will be able to distribute in a fairer and more equitable way, not equal."
The approved package—the largest since the Special Period of the 1990s—includes the authorization of private banking under the supervision of the Central Bank, the creation of private exchange houses, the transformation of state-owned enterprises into joint-stock companies, the removal of the limit of 100 workers for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes), opening up to foreign investment in the Cuban private sector, and the gradual introduction of VAT.
Pérez Reyes warned that the implementation will be a major challenge: it involves testing over 5,000 economic actors and transforming more than 81 higher-ranking regulations, all amidst the economic pressure from the United States.
Economist Yan Pedro Carbonell, director of macroeconomic policies at the Central Bank, described the context in which these measures are being implemented: a decline in foreign currency income, restrictions on international credits, a high fiscal deficit, an inconvertible national currency, and multiple exchange rates operating simultaneously. The CEPAL projects "rather negative" figures for Cuba's GDP in 2026.
Rafael Montejo, from the Center for Management Techniques Studies at the University of Havana, pointed out that the main danger lies not in the design of the reforms but in their execution: “There are no magic wands in economics; it will undoubtedly require a tremendous effort, especially in implementation. The limits will be ourselves and our ability to carry out these deep transformations.”
Cuban activists and opponents, on the other hand, rejected the 176 measures as they found them inadequate without political opening, while analyst Miguel Alejandro Hayes argued that the reforms aim to rebuild the political pact that sustains the regime rather than to generate genuine development.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero acknowledged before the Assembly that the measures will create "contradictions" that the regime will need to resolve "on the fly," a acknowledgment that contrasts with the optimism with which Pérez Reyes concluded his speech: "The greatest risk is not transforming too much, but rather doing it halfway."
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