The Cuban government is making progress in a process of economic reforms that the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío described as the deepest since the 1960s, although he acknowledged that the authorities do not know what the outcome will be.
“We don’t know what the outcome will be, but we must do something to change the current reality,” said Fernández de Cossío during an interview with the American program Breaking Points.
The diplomat described a transformation characterized by a greater role for the market and a wide opening to the private sector, and acknowledged that the changes are causing concern within Cuba.
"At this moment in Cuba, we are undergoing a very profound social and economic transformation, deeper than at any time since the 1960s," he assured.
According to the explanation, the process did not emerge spontaneously. The government has been discussing transformations of this kind for at least 15 years, but it had delayed their implementation while waiting for more favorable circumstances.
That wait, according to Fernández de Cossío, has come to an end.
“We have come to understand that a better moment is not going to arrive. We have to do it now,” he stated.
Fifteen years of pending reforms
Cossío's reference to those 15 years almost coincides with the lengthy reform process initiated under Raúl Castro.
In 2011, the VI Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) approved the so-called Guidelines for Economic and Social Policy, which incorporated a greater space for non-state management forms and certain market mechanisms, while maintaining socialist planning as the central axis of the system.
The Guidelines were presented as an "update" of the model and not as a departure from socialism. However, many of the transformations announced at that time have progressed slowly, were later modified, or remain pending implementation.
Fifteen years later, Havana has resumed the acceleration of the process. In June 2026, the regime approved a package of 176 economic transformations that significantly expands the operational scope of the private sector and includes measures such as the introduction of private financial institutions and currency exchange houses, foreign investment associated with the non-state sector, greater flexibility for small and medium-sized enterprises, and new market mechanisms.
The breadth of the measures has forced the ruling elite to repeatedly emphasize the political and ideological limits of the process.
Miguel Díaz-Canel has denied that Cuba is implementing "capitalist reforms" and has asserted that the transformations aim to "defend and advance the socialist construction".
It has also been made clear that the process will remain under the guidance of the PCC, presented by the authorities as a guarantee that the economic opening will not lead to a change of system. “To build socialism the Cuban way,” the leader and first secretary of the Party assured in mid-July.
In this regard, Díaz-Canel defined the expansion of the private sector as a "concession" that is necessary within the socialist model, while insisting on rejecting the possibility of a "capitalist restoration."
Concern even within the ruling ranks
The explanations have not prevented the economic shift from causing confusion even among sectors associated with the system itself.
Communist militants, youth leaders, and intellectuals linked to the government have questioned transformations that expand the space for the market, private property, and capital accumulation, while the official discourse insists that the goal remains to strengthen socialism.
Some of these critiques have gone as far as to describe certain measures as a step towards a "hardcore capitalism" and have raised alarms about the growing inequalities and concentration of wealth.
Díaz-Canel himself has acknowledged concerns related to the growth of private capital, the concentration of wealth, a potential privatization of state enterprises, the increase in inequalities, the role of the market, and the risks of corruption.
It is in this context that Fernández de Cossío's admission that there are "educated" and "well-positioned" individuals in Cuba who are "very concerned" about the transformation takes on special importance.
The deputy minister stated, however, that these individuals will not confront the government because, in his interpretation, they understand that the authorities are trying to adapt to a new reality.
"A dramatic change in Cuba."
Reforms are progressing amid a deep economic and energy crisis, high inflation, deteriorating public services, and a migration exodus that has significantly reduced the population remaining on the island.
Cossío presented the expansion of the role of the market and the private sector as a way to try to change that reality. He assured that there is already legislation in place to promote the process and that additional regulations are being prepared, while describing what is happening as a “dramatic change in Cuba.”
Later, he described the transformations as a movement "towards the market" and an expansion of the private sector, with new opportunities for residents in Cuba, Cubans living abroad, and foreigners interested in doing business on the island.
The diplomat also assured that the government aims to move towards legislation that is "more transparent" and "more predictable" for businesses, although he acknowledged certain limitations and a lack of experience in the process.
Fernández de Cossío attributed part of the difficulties to the policies of the United States and asserted that Washington has historically hindered Havana's attempts at economic reform.
He also rejected that the current changes are in response to U.S. demands for greater economic openness.
"These are the transformations we are making for the people of Cuba, to improve Cuba", he stated.
The statements from the deputy minister highlight the significance the government itself assigns to the ongoing economic changes. After more than a decade of partial reforms and postponements since the Guidelines of 2011, Havana is now discussing a greater presence of the market and a considerable expansion of the private sector, while simultaneously insisting on maintaining the process under the political control of the PCC and denying that it represents a transition to capitalism.
Fernández de Cossío summarized the urgency with an unusual phrase for a high-ranking Cuban official: the authorities concluded that "a better moment will not come" and that they must implement the changes now.
However, it left the main question regarding the outcome of that transformation unanswered.
«We do not know what the outcome will be», he admitted.
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