Cuba opens its economy almost entirely to private initiatives

In late 2014, Barack Obama began to normalize relations with Cuba after nearly six decades of hostilities. However, Donald Trump, his successor in the White House, froze it again in early 2017. During these two years of diplomatic optimism, the Cuban Communist regime has, to a large extent, returned to the larger American community. Joe Biden, President of the United States since January 20, is preparing to lift the sanctions imposed by Trump and resume the relationship with Cuba where Obama left it.

Havana expected this new one Stop By unleashing almost the entire economy. Labor Minister Marta Elena Vito announced, Saturday, that economic activities now open to private initiative will be expanded from 127 to more than 2,000. The state maintains the exclusivity in 124 it did not provide details.

The Castro system opens more than 2,000 activities to the private sector and maintains only 124 privacy

Thus, the system facilitates entry for international investors. The Marielle Special Economic Zone, which was opened in 2013, awaits you, as well as tourism that has been hard hit by the epidemic.

The economy shrank 11% in 2020, the worst setback in nearly three decades. The situation is so delicate that even basic products are scarce.

Cuba experienced its worst setback in nearly three decades in 2020

The private sector employs about 600,000 Cubans, 13% of the workforce. Most of them are farmers, craftsmen, taxi drivers, and small traders. Now many will join them. Reforms in Cuba, however, are slow and may take several months before their effects on the real economy become apparent.

If Biden restored the ties cut by Trump, private companies would have access to American money and growth.

Cuba is not affiliated with the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, so it cannot access the funding that these organizations provide to countries in difficulty, but Biden could pave the way for her to gradually access her technical advice.

Obama realized that sanctions would not open Cuba. In two years of normalization, including a state visit, he has done more to change the Castro regime than any other president. It was one of his greatest legacies. Biden, who was his deputy, saw the benefits of this long-term strategy. Obama could start it because he knew how to contain the pressure of Cuban exile in Miami. Biden doesn’t need this community to stay in power either. He won the White House without winning the state of Florida. If you go back now to 2016 and reopen the flow of travelers, remittances and investments, you will see how many Cubans – now much more than before – are benefiting. Entrepreneurs from the private sector, who had dollars in their pockets and were able to operate for their own benefit, showed that they were an unprecedented creative force. They promote the companies that in turn open up the Castro system. Social networks, led by Facebook and Twitter, have expanded in this new open ecosystem. New economic reform and a change of course in Washington must be in a new favor Stop .