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A report published this Thursday by the Juan de Mariana Institute states that Spain has allocated the equivalent of 4.994 billion euros to financially support the Cuban regime over the past three decades, through successive debt forgiveness and restructuring.
The study, titled "The Price of Maintaining Castroism," was released to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the protests on July 11, 2021.
According to its authors, the calculation is not limited to the amount of the debt forgiven, but includes the financial cost that it would have implied for Cuba to obtain that financing under normal market conditions.
The report traces the origin of this figure to the debt restructuring agreed upon between Spain and Cuba in 2016. In that operation, 2.444 million euros were renegotiated, of which 1.492 million were directly forgiven in terms of overdue interest, about 60% of the total.
Since then, new financial relief operations have reduced the outstanding debt to about 286 million euros, meaning that the Cuban regime would have had nearly 90% of the obligations recognized in that agreement forgiven.
The authors argue that, had those debt cancellations and refinancings not occurred, the debt would have reached an approximate value of 5.280 billion euros by 2026, which is why they estimate the effective economic cost of Spanish support at 4.994 billion.
The study also focuses on the decisions made during Pedro Sánchez's Government. It recalls that in October 2025, the Council of Ministers approved a new restructuring of Cuban debt amounting to 193.4 million euros and highlights that in May 2026, the Supreme Court compelled the Ministry of Economy to make the details public of these operations after annulling the secrecy declaration under which they had been classified.
Beyond the debt, the report states that Spanish support includes cooperation and financing programs aimed at various areas of the Cuban state, including energy projects, administrative digitization initiatives, technical assistance, food aid, and operations for supplying police materials.
It also notes that various autonomous communities have funded cooperation projects with Cuba over the past decades. The document particularly highlights the case of the Basque Country, which is said to have channeled more than 41 million euros between 1993 and 2019 and approved another 250,000 euros in June of this year. It also mentions initiatives promoted from Catalonia, Galicia, and other regions.
The report also highlights an apparent contradiction: while Spain has substantially reduced the Cuban government's debt, more than 150 Spanish companies continue to accumulate unpaid debts on the island totaling 255 million euros, a figure that rises to 318 million if retained funds and blocked dividends are included. According to the study, some of these companies have ended up in bankruptcy proceedings.
The authors frame Spanish support within a long history of international subsidies that, in their view, have allowed the economic survival of the Cuban regime. The document mentions assistance received from the former Soviet Union, Venezuela, and, more recently, Russia.
In conclusion, the Juan de Mariana Institute asserts that decades of external financial support have not resulted in political or economic reforms in Cuba, and claims that the regime continues to depend on international subsidies while the economic crisis, mass emigration, and political repression persist on the island.
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