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The Cuban government announced that emigrants who maintain effective Cuban citizenship will be able to request state lands in usufruct, a development that represents one of the main updates within the agrarian reform presented this weekend.
The information was shared by the Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca during a meeting with agricultural producers, where he explained that those who have emigrated will also be able to access the land distribution program.
Since the usufruct system was established in 2008 through the , successive reforms have expanded the conditions for the exploitation of state lands, but until now, there had been no explicit announcement regarding the possibility for emigrants to become usufructuaries.
The government did not specify how the measure will be implemented or what the requirements will be to verify the so-called "effective citizenship", so it will be necessary to wait for the publication of the corresponding regulations in the Official Gazette.
The announcement is part of a series of changes aimed at incorporating more participants into agricultural production in a context marked by food scarcity and low productivity in the sector.
The opening coincides with a moment when the authorities acknowledge the need to attract new producers to exploit thousands of hectares of idle land.
In recent years, the government has promoted various reforms of the usufruct system—such as expanding the land available, relaxing certain requirements, and regularizing constructions on properties—but the results have not been able to reverse the food production crisis affecting the country.
If this measure is confirmed through its official publication, the universe of potential beneficiaries would significantly expand to include Cubans residing abroad who maintain effective citizenship.
However, there are still questions about practical aspects such as residency in Cuba, land management, deadlines for starting exploitation, control mechanisms, and conditions for maintaining usufruct.
The statements by Tapia Fonseca come as the government is working on a new Land Law intended to replace the current legal framework for usufruct.
The project aims to reorganize agricultural legislation and could permanently incorporate changes like this, although for the moment the authorities have not published the legal text that would provide clarity on the exact scope of the announced opening.
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