The branch of the corporation Cimex S.A. in Holguín called for bids through its profile on Facebook, in order to assign the management of 13 commercial units to private economic actors, including the Bim Bom Ice Cream Factory and the Doña Nelly bakery and confectionery, two iconic establishments in the provincial capital.
Both facilities are offered under the cooperative production model, while another 11 units are part of a second call that includes leasing.
These include the Moa Portioning Center, the El Radar Store, and the sales points Nicaragua and El Moderno in Banes, as well as several commercial and service establishments in Moa and other locations in the province.
Interested parties have seven business days from the publication of the calls to submit their proposals in a sealed envelope at the CIMEX Holguín Command Center, located at Calle 6ta, number 10, between 9 and 10, in the Ciudad Jardín neighborhood. Reception is scheduled from Monday to Friday, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm.
The submissions must include the applicant's personal information, the name and budget of the project, a description of the planned activities, and the interest in incorporating advertising or artistic services. If a major renovation is proposed, it will also be necessary to submit a project plan endorsed by the owning company of the property.
The call does not imply the privatization of the establishments. The properties will remain under state ownership, while non-state actors will take on the management or administration of the businesses, following the modalities established in each bidding process.
The initiative is part of a trend that has been spreading in Cuba, amid the opening of state spaces to non-state forms of management. The Decree-Law "On Bidding," approved by the Council of State on August 20, establishes this mechanism as the general method for transferring the management of state spaces to non-state actors.
In August 2025, the Municipal Company of Commerce and Gastronomy in the Holguín municipality of Rafael Freyre tendered four state bars.
A year later, the Palace of Marriages and the Emilio Bárcenas hair salon in the City of Parks followed the same path, a process that generated skepticism among the people of Holguín.
On a national scale, the pattern repeats itself. In July, Cimex opened the bidding for 12 establishments in Sancti Spíritus, a process that was mimicked in September by the Palmares chain with a dozen cafeterias in Havana and Tiendas Caribe with 17 locations in Santiago de Cuba.
The recurring criticism is that the state shifts onto entrepreneurs the burden of the deterioration accumulated over decades of failed government management, without providing stable legal guarantees.
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