Juan Omar Sixto, president of the Cuban-American National Chamber of Commerce (CANCC), claims to be convinced that Cuba could achieve its liberation before the end of this year, a belief that led him to establish, last April, a chamber of commerce in exile to channel massive investments towards the island as soon as a real political transition occurs.
In an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba, Sixto explained that about three months ago he became aware of something he had never felt before: "I have the impression that Cuba, for the first time in 67 years, is going to have a productive final outcome of liberation."
This conviction drove him to reach out to Dr. Jorge Suárez Menéndez, a plastic surgeon and Cuban-American entrepreneur based in Miami, to propose the creation of a business meeting space.
The response was immediate: Suárez Menéndez offered his 1,400-square-meter house by the sea - "it feels like you’re in Havana," Sixto described - as the venue for the founding meetings, with one simple condition: "I provide the house, and you bring your friends."
Sixto clarified from the beginning what profile he was looking for: "I wanted to start the concept of business meetings with the most prominent companies, not the most prominent people in exile." The result, as he himself acknowledged, exceeded expectations: "They are billionaires."
The CANCC brings together entrepreneurs of Cuban origin, many of whom are from Pinar del Río, with connections in sectors such as tobacco and furniture.
Sixto's personal story embodies the spirit of the organization: his father was the third largest tobacco producer in Pinar del Río, whose farm "Ibirico" was confiscated by Fidel Castro's regime in the 1960s and declared a Heritage of Cuba.
When Sixto returned to the Island in 2018, he found total devastation: "Of the 13 tobacco houses, the two tractors, the 500 cattle, and the mango fields, nothing remained, Tania, nothing. Only a decayed house was left."
The chamber has already held two meetings and has a third scheduled for July 22. Its work plan spans three years and includes specific projects: the creation of a stock and commodities exchange in Havana, a finance institute to train stockbrokers, a mixed public-private health model, and a phased architectural and infrastructural reconstruction plan.
Sixto, who worked for three years at Merrill Lynch in New York, gathered on Wednesday between 10 and 15 entrepreneurs to begin designing that stock exchange in Havana.
All that capital, however, comes with a non-negotiable condition. The CANCC operates in compliance with Title II of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and requires its members to only engage with private Cuban entrepreneurs who have no ties to the regime.
In response to the economic reforms announced by Miguel Díaz-Canel, which include opening up investment opportunities for the diaspora, Sixto was adamant: the CANCC views them as mere bait without real guarantees.
The organization's position has been clearly established: “Until there is a transitional government, the Chamber of Commerce will not invest a dollar. We will not set foot in Cuba.”.
This rejection is set against a broader context: according to expert Roberto Fernández Rizo, the political transition in Cuba began on January 3, 2026 with the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the DEA, which interrupted the supply of Venezuelan crude oil to the Island starting January 9 and worsened an energy crisis with daily blackouts lasting more than twenty hours.
Sixto estimates that the country's reconstruction will require between 200 and 400 trillion dollars, given the level of destruction accumulated over decades of dictatorship.
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