22 April 2025

TCuba’s state run telecommunications company, ETECSA SA, has publicly acknowledged that it is unable to obtain the foreign exchange it needs to maintain the required level of investment in technology to continue upgrading its aging network.

Speaking to Cubavisión Internacional, the official worldwide arm of the domestic Cubavisión network, Kevin Castro, the Deputy Director of Network Operations said: “Our foreign currency income sources have been severely affected. What does that mean? It has become exceedingly challenging to continue with the investment plan we carried out up to 2022.”

In doing so he confirmed the reason for the growing number of complaints on Cuban social media about service failures, problems with Internet access in homes and public areas, interruptions in landline and mobile phone services, and more generally slowness and network congestion.

Rodríguez attributed the problems associated with connectivity to the increase in demand, a lack of foreign currency, external interference from the use of illegal equipment, reported recently to be degrading the service in some areas, and a recent increase in vandalism against telecommunications infrastructure. He also noted that the company faced other limitations due to economic sanctions and an overall shortage of resources.

According to ETECSA, the damage experienced involves cuts to fibre optic cables, damage to poles carrying cabling and to towers carrying relays, and battery theft. In his remarks Castro stressed the costs of recovery on the company’s finances, observing that a single fibre optic cable cut experienced recently in Camagüey had cost the company over CUP16mn and had disrupted airport services.

ETECSA’s Deputy Director of Network Operations also noted that the growing demand for Internet and telephone services has placed a strain on the existing infrastructure at a time when it is experiencing declining foreign currency income, and the company has had to redirect resources and technical staff to addressing repairs.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Marrero again tells senior provincial officials they must address Cubans’ pressing concerns  
• State dairy company reported to have accumulated huge debts to farmers cooperatives
• China holds policy seminar in Havana on Beijing’s approach to economic development
• Russia’s Novikom Bank formalises agreement to enable Cuban financial settlements in Rubles.
• US Federal judge blocks administration’s attempt to expel Cuban and other legal migrants

Speaking on the same programme, Pedro Lozada, the Director of ETECSA’s Southern Territorial Division, said that in 2024 planned investments had to be halted to address the damages, further delaying the modernisation of its increasingly outdated network.

He told Cubavisión’s viewers that external interference in the mobile cellular network caused by illegal antennas and uncertified equipment had jammed cells in areas like Havana, where 12% of external interference is reported, while in the rest of the country the impact was only 6%.

ETECSA said that it is now working in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior to strengthen infrastructure protection and to identify those responsible for vandalism and the use of imported equipment. In doing so, it reiterated  its commitment to optimising its services, expanding coverage, and delivering technical solutions that enable a more stable user experience.

22 April 2025, Issue 1276

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

07 April 2025

Cuba’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, has insisted that the recovery of Cuba’s National Electricity System (SEN) is “on schedule” and that a positive outcome of everything planned “will soon be seen.”

His comments come as extensive daily power outages continue because of fuel shortages, breakdowns, and scheduled repairs. On 6 April the deficit forecast by the state power generator Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reached 1,615 MW or 56% of forecast demand during peak evening hours. 

In an extended interview published in four parts over several days in the official publication Granma, the Minister said that he expects Cuba to exceed its commitment to reach 24% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2030, and that the benefits of the extensive repairs and maintenance being carried out on the country’s eight aging thermoelectric plants (CTE) will soon be seen.

Less promisingly, he warned that other issues relating to fuel, financing, and falling national oil and gas production continue to affect the sector.

National fuel production, he said, is declining “to the point that analysts believe there would come a time when we wouldn’t even have [enough] fuel for the thermoelectric plants. We’re talking about domestic crude oil and accompanying gas to generate electricity,” he told the publication.

Observing that Cuba has always been dependent on fuel imports to power the country’s thermoelectric power plants, he stressed that more is spent on this than on food imports or on medicine, with more than half of all fuel imported used to generate electricity.

Electricity recovery, he said, was complicated, not just because of the technical condition of the thermoelectric plants, but because of the limited nature of the financing available.

To maintain power generation, if the electrical system were functioning properly, would require an annual investment of between US$250mn and US$350mn, he said. “If you don’t provide those resources for a year, you can’t recover them; and it hasn’t been just a year. That’s the price we’re paying. It hasn’t been possible; the country hasn’t had enough income,” he told Granma.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Cuba and Russia stress the need to rapidly consolidate economic ties
• ZEDM companies authorised to use higher exchange rate to calculate salaries
• Taxation-derived fund helping restore Cuba’s public transport
• Head of Southern Command says Cuba a threat to US national security
• Vietnamese business encouraged to play a greater role in Cuban economy

Levy made clear that “the recovery” of Cuba’s electrical supply after having experienced four nationwide outages and months when much of the country has been without power for up to 20 hours a day, is about much more than the construction of  new photovoltaic solar parks. 

Such additions, he said, may be “the most notable or the most innovative, the most different,” but as they come on stream their introduction into the energy matrix is enabling Union Eléctrica to undertake the necessary repairs to the thermoelectric plants that provide most of Cuba’s power.

Speaking about national oil production in relation to power generation, he said that “drilling a well is an investment, but maintaining that well requires resources, which must be invested every day.” Financing shortages, he told viewers had forced the government “to keep closing wells, closing them again and again,” because, he said, they didn’t have the resources to keep them active.

In relation to power generation, he said, “the first thing is to halt this decline, while simultaneously reducing fuel consumption, expanding generating capacity and rapidly progressing plans for the use less expensive renewable energy sources.

The plan in relation to photovoltaic power, he explained, is for four photovoltaic parks to be delivering energy by the end of April, to alleviate the enormous deficit that persists. “This doesn’t mean that blackouts will be eliminated completely,“ Levy however admitted. It’s a gradual, costly, investment-intensive process for which we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and which doesn’t end with these 1,000 MW.”

That is why he said, the Cuban government is promoting a plan to launch 100 solar parks by 2031 through two overlapping contracts that will add up to the 2,000 MW, one announced for 2028, and one being developed at a slower pace. 

At the same time, he said, the Ministry is working on plans to significantly increase domestic oil production from the 138,028 tons recorded in 2024. Cuba currently produces about 40,000 barrels per oil a day, or about a third of the crude oil it consumes, according to the  Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM).

During the interview, which sought to assure Cubans that a comprehensive integrated plan was being implemented by government to enable the gradual recovery of the SEN, Levy revealed:

• Block one of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant (CTE) is expected to be synchronised in April producing up to 158 MW and a second block will come online in June with a similar potential. The plant has undergone a major repair with some of the key elements manufactured overseas 

• When more than 90% of the necessary resources are obtained, the Antonio Guiteras CTE in Matanzas, the country’s  largest thermoelectric plant producing about 280MW, will be taken offline and long overdue repair work not undertaken since 2004 will take place  over eight or ten months. 

• Two units under construction at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes plant in Cienfuegos will be reinstated to the SEN this month and the other in June.

• The second unit at the Felton CTE in Holguín, which was  “completely lost” after a 2022 fire, is undergoing a comprehensive rehabilitation. The “gigantic engineering project”  will last two years. The minister did not specify when it would be completed.

• Alongside these and other repair and maintenance projects involving  the recovery of 850 MW,  two Turkish floating power barges will be  gradually phased in, requiring the importation of large quantities of fuel. 

• Areas with new oil deposits have been identified at Boca de Jaruco, between Fraile and Jibacoa; the area of East Havana and Alamar; and south of the Puerto Escondido and Canasí fields.

• Batteries able to bring stability to the solar power system will be added as the installation of wind farms progresses.

During the extended interview the Minister stressed that everything planned is on schedule and a positive outcome is expected to emerge from the new strategy.

Granma, in what at times was an aggressively questioning interview, quoted Levy as saying that International specialists who had visited, had agreed in writing with Cuban proposals including its development strategy; the urgent need to increase domestic fuel production and reduce consumption by introducing renewable energy; additionally boosting distributed generation; and continuing to use thermoelectric plants, which it reported remain indispensable to the overall energy matrix as they use Cuban fuel “over which the country has control.”

24 March 2025, Issue 1274

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

17 March 2025

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is expected to visit the Caribbean before the end of March to meet with CARICOM governments to discuss among other matters the decision by the Trump Administration to revoke the visas of Caribbean facilitating Cuba’s medical missions to the region and elsewhere. (Background Cuba Briefing 3 March 2025)

The announcement follows a meeting on 9 March in Washington between Caribbean Foreign Ministers and the US Special Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mauricio Claver-Carone, during which the issue was discussed.

At the meeting, Washington promoted the idea that Cuban medical personnel working overseas should be able to earn and sell their services in a manner that is independent from the Cuban state and have the same workplace rights as most regional workers do under the International Labour Organisation’s multilaterally agreed conventions. It was also stressed that the new US sanctions relating to Cuba applied to nations in many other parts of the world including in Africa, the Gulf, and Europe, that are receiving Cuban medical brigades. The US also sought to have CARICOM governments undertake what were described as fair financial negotiations with Cuba.

In response, Caribbean Foreign ministers defended the Cuban health programme and the benefits it offered and voiced concern about the impact of US policies and the embargo on the Cuban people.

Expressing support for Cuba’s medical programmes two days later, Grenada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Joseph Andall, was quoted as saying on 11 March, during the island’s budget debate, that the island not only has a “legal, moral and ethical” obligation to stand by the people of Cuba, but that it should avoid being opportunistic or transactional as it pertains to the relations between the two countries”.

“Cuba continues to be a trustworthy friend and partner not only of Grenada, not only of the Caribbean but of people the world over. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Cuban doctors went as far as Italy to provide services, I did not hear anybody talk about human trafficking and things like that,” Andall told Parliament.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Tourism expert says sector’s recovery unlikely before 2030
• Cuba open to accepting returned migrants but within terms of US migration accords
• Judicial authorities say all prisoners under agreement with Vatican now released
• Prime Minister calls for more controls and stockpiling to improve food supply
• Meliá International say Cuba related revenues and occupancy fell in 2024

The meeting in Washington also discussed issues relating to regional security, the situation in Haiti, regional economic stability and development, energy, Venezuela, climate change, and the abolition of USAID. It involved ministers and diplomats from Barbados, the Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica. St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname, and Trinidad.

The exchanges in Washington on the medical assistance Cuba provides to most nations in CARICOM came days after a series of direct, sometimes blunt statements by several CARICOM heads of Government stressing the importance to their health systems of Cuba’s medical programmes and its broader regional support, with some CARICOM Prime Ministers indicating they would be prepared to forgo a US visa rather than end the Cuban programmes.

Among those doing so were the Prime Minister of Antigua, Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of St Vincent, Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and the soon to retire  Prime Minister of Trinidad, Keith Rowley. Speaking at an event to inaugurate new facilities at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital,  Rowley noted to applause that he had just returned from California, saying “and if I never go back there again in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is known to its people and respected by all.” For his part Gonsalves, emphasising the vital dialysis treatments provided to citizens by Cuban doctors, said “I will prefer to lose my US visa than to have 60 poor and working people die.” 

Addressing Barbados’ Parliament, Mottley said that she too was prepared to have her US visa revoked, and urged all CARICOM nations to explain “what the Cubans have been able to do for us”  in relation to its medical support programmes.

Also commenting, Grenada’s Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, emphasised the historical nature of Cuba and the Caribbean’s support for each other, before going on to say: “We have a legitimate partnership with the government and people of Cuba who have over several decades provided support to the people of Grenada in the medical field.” In doing so he stressed the challenges the island faces in securing specialist doctors, noting, “We will continue to support and defend the partnership.”

St Kitts Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denzil Douglas observed, “Our relationship with Cuba has always been one of mutual respect and we have received great support from the island in important areas such as human resource training, scholarships, and medical services. It is a relationship that has tremendously benefited our people,” he said.

For the Caribbean, arrangements for healthcare with Cuba remain crucial to supporting the limited numbers of local medical professionals they have. Havana’s medical programmes in the region variously provides specialist consultants, doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers, and technicians in ways and in locations that no other nation globally is able or willing to provide. CARICOM nations are also acutely aware Cuba’s support during the COVID pandemic and its help in responding to disasters.

The importance of the issue, its ethical dimensions, and its implications for Caribbean sovereignty, mean that it will likely have to be resolved at a Heads of Government level. CARICOM is hoping at some stage soon, to be able to meet with President Trump to discuss the Caribbean concerns about Washington’s much changed regional priorities.

17 March 2025, Issue 1271

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

10 March 2025

Sales of Havana Club rum continue to grow both in Cuba and internationally according to Cristian Barré, the CEO of Havana Club International SA. Havana Club, one of several brands in the portfolio of Pernod Ricard and  Havana Club International (HCI) is a joint venture between state-owned Cuba Ron and France’s Pernod Ricard.

Opening an event at the Havana Rum Museum to launch a new limited edition of its 25-year-old aged rum, Tributo 2025, Barré, said that it remained essential to have a very strong position in Cuba. “Cuba is fundamental for us because it is obviously the country of origin; that is where the brand was built, and tourism also plays an important role,” he observed.

HCI’s CEO noted that around 20% of the market for Havana Club is in Cuba, with much of the remaining 80% being exported in Europe to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, and in Latin America to Chile, Canada, Argentina and Mexico. Havana Club is also seeking to strengthen its presence in Asia and Africa, Barré noted, and has now set its sights on increasing sales in China, which he described as one of “the markets of the future.”

“All these strategies are designed so that when we have the possibility of accessing the USA’s market, we can enter with our 7 Años product or with other Havana Club and Pernod Ricard products” Barré added.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Habanos SA reports a 16% growth in its global sales of premium cigars in 2024
• New law on land tenure expected this year
• Large fall in visitor arrivals recorded in January.
• Rubio announces new migration related US sanctions targeting foreign officials
• Russia’s Zarubezhneft now producing oil commercially in Cuba

In response to a question from Reuters about the toughening of US sanctions, Barré said that although the environment is difficult “it is not really new.” “We have (contingencies) in place to operate, whether with this US President or with another,” he said.

Barré stressed that the company continued to have a guaranteed supply of raw material despite the problems Cuba’s sugar industry continues to  experience. It was doing so, he said, by working  closely with the state sugar company, AZCUBA, to ensure a future supply. “We are the rum of Cuba,” he observed. “There can be no export strategy, no development without having a (firm) base in Cuba.”

Also speaking to the media in Havana, the brand’s National Director of Sales and Marketing, Ahmed Álvarez, said that Havana Club had registered the greatest growth in Pernod Ricard’s overall portfolio, with sales growing by 8% internationally and 55% in value between July 2023 and June 2024.

Álvarez noted that premiumisation had been consolidated, resulting in more value through a lower volume of sales as consumers sought seven year or older higher-quality rums, and that the greatest progress had been in the Cuban market through sales to visitors.

He observed that sales through Havana Club’s online store made an important contribution at a time when foreign currency earnings in Cuba from its historic national clients were difficult. Such purchases, he said, were made with international cards, from abroad and within Cuba.

Álvarez confirmed that despite the decrease in sugar production, the Azcuba Business Group continued to prioritise the supply of volumes necessary to produce the brand’s rums “in order to maintain the designation of origin.”

Products from the Havana Club brand portfolio are present in more than 125 countries. Havana Club is expected to collaborate with Habanos SA to launch at the next Habanos cigar festival in Cuba a new iconic range for introduction in Cuba in mid-2026. Tributo 2025 is available at a retail price of €450 US$486), initially through HCI’s online store and in some specialised stores.

10 March 2025, Issue 1270

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

03 March 2025

President Díaz-Canel has called for the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) to “have a clear strategy and more coherent thinking on economic issues in the difficult circumstances which the country is facing.”

In unusually direct language, he said that the Ministry must from now on carry out a permanent analysis of economic events, as well as a comparative analysis of what is happening in the world.

The President’s remarks, reported on the Presidency website, were reflected in a separate report in Granma of more direct comments made by Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, who called for a radical redesign of the MEP so that its structure and functionality respond to the need for a war economy.

Granma wrote that after acknowledging the objectivity of the MEP’s 2024 report, the Prime Minister “assessed that the results achieved in 2024 are far from what is required to relaunch, recover and strengthen the economy.”

Addressing the situation that Cuba is now facing following growing pressure from the Trump Administration and the rapidly changing geopolitical environment, Marrero told the annual review meeting that the MEP must now deliver “its share of responsibility for all the projections of the Government Programme to revive the economy.”

In 2025, he said, these responsibilities will include monitoring a new mechanism for the allocation and control of foreign currency, the partial dollarisation of the economy, and the necessary transformation of the socialist state enterprise, and an accompanying future new law.

This would mean, Marrero insisted, the MEP strengthening its leading role in managing these processes, and in others including planning, the development of productive chains between state and non-state economic actors, as well as overseeing the recovery of the national electrical energy system, the delivery of national investments, and the decentralisation of power to Cuba’s territories.

In language that a appeared to suggest the meeting was combative, Granma reported that “in the heat of the interventions” that followed, President Díaz-Canel intervened after a presentation by the Minister of Economy and Planning Joaquín Alonso,. According to Granma, Cuba’s President suggested “that given the impossibility of completing the workforce templates, it is necessary to resort to digital transformation, science and innovation, and artificial intelligence.”

In language also critical of the MEP’s approach, he said that “institutional communication must [now] be more present” in the  organisation “to explain the scope of the economic measures” and with the support of economists, the ministry must nationally “counteract the entire hegemonic wave of the right and neoliberalism against Cuba [to] promote the political economy.”

According to the Presidency website, Díaz-Canel made clear that given the economically active population in Cuba is increasingly smaller, the MEP must optimise its processes, use science and innovation to promote economic research and “share the content of our economists in multiple spaces, including on social networks.”

Highlights in this issue: 

• Díaz-Canel and Communist Party Secretary stress importance of maintaining political unity
• Marrero calls for a new approach to tourism
• Central Bank licences foreign cryptocurrency virtual service provider
• US imposes new sanctions on Cuban and foreign officials linked to health programmes
• Washington stops issuing visas to Cubans travelling on official passports

In a reference to staff concerns about shortages of qualified personnel within the MFP, it noted that the meeting “discussed dissatisfaction, encouraging experiences, and also how much remains to be done within the sector to achieve the results that the country needs for more than two hours.”

Tellingly, the Presidency website also noted: “This is a crucial ministry for the development of the nation, which has not yet managed to take advantage of all its potential. This was the opinion of the participants in the review meeting, who agreed on the need to work, from all areas, in accordance with the war economy that the nation is experiencing.”

“They also agreed on the importance of strengthening MFP job stability and paying special attention to talent and expertise, thus using the best knowledge for development; updating economic management; identifying bureaucratic information that slows down decision-making; increasing controls on the efficient use of energy sources, as well as advancing the integration of the productive base into the planning process.”

The website also reported that the priorities for 2025 will be: the implementation of the 2030 National Plan for Economic and Social Development; advancing the improvement of annual planning; transforming the control system for the management of the economy with a more integrative and participatory approach; prioritising the control of the execution of investments, with a greater impact on the economy and the population; advancing the comprehensive transformation of Socialist State Enterprise; achieving its effective link with the rest of the actors in the economy; and  strengthening the internal functioning of the MFP.

03 March 2025, Issue 1269

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

24 February 2025

Cuba’s nickel and cobalt miner, Cubaniquel SA, has said that it expects production and efficiency at its joint venture with Canada’s Sherritt International to recover this year following a difficult 2024.

Speaking on the television and radio programme Mesa Redonda, Leonardo Rosell, the Director General of the company said that the business group was undertaking organisational improvements that would transform the company’s management, its exports, and earnings.

His remarks followed a difficult 2024 during which he said, the company introduced austerity measures that slowed  growth and saw little investment but enabled it to significantly contain costs to sustain the industry’s operations.

Rosell said that metal production last year was down by 16.6%, and export sales by 32%. He also noted that income to the country only met 75.6% of what had been planned for. This he said reflected a fall in prices for nickel and cobalt internationally, three disconnections from Cuba’s national electric energy system, and the impact of changing geopolitics. In 2024 the joint venture produced 30,331 tonnes of finished nickel and 3,206 tonnes of finished cobalt according to Cubaniquel’s joint venture partner Sherritt International.

Speaking about plans for recovery in 2025, Rosell said that the company had several fundamental goals. The first of these is, he told viewers, is to place committed and capable entrepreneurs in key positions, bringing where possible younger people from universities able to speed up processes and improve the quality and strategic decision making by the company’s staff.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment told it must strengthen its role
• Marrero says Further reform measures to be announced soon
• Innovation Council agrees need to incentivise technology startups
• Influential Senator says he will seek to limit travel from the US to Cuba
• Russian Ambassador says ties are becoming dynamic

“The goal is for them to focus on the needs and not on everyday difficulties in order to be creative and make the right decisions,” he said. This will require, he explained, improving the structure, work systems, working conditions, salaries,  and productivity, and eliminating restrictions on their development. He noted also that new technologies are likely to lead to fewer staff working more efficiently and stressed the importance of workers acquiring new skills.

Last month Sherritt said that it had ended 2024 with robust operating results close to its forecast. A company release quoted Leon Binedell, the President and CEO of Sherritt, as saying that operational performance in 2024 “was a resounding success in the face of significant headwinds.” Despite numerous external challenges, “we successfully navigated extraordinary hurdles including hurricanes, an earthquake, and nationwide power outages in Cuba, as well as rail and port labour disruptions in Canada, “ he said.

Sherritt in a market report said that its low cost and low capital intensity Moa joint venture  expansion programme continues to advance, and it expects to conclude a second phase in the first quarter of 2025 and then ramp up production. It added: “This will see the Moa JV undertaking a series of measures to remove minor processing bottlenecks to support an expected 20% increase in annual mixed sulphide precipitate (“MSP”) production.”

“The additional MSP is expected to fill the refinery to capacity to maximise profitability from the joint venture’s own mine feed, displacing lower margin third-party feeds and increasing overall finished nickel and cobalt production,” the company said in a late January 2025 statement.

Sherritt’s Moa JV has an estimated mine life of approximately 25 years and is advancing an expansion programme focused on increasing annual MSP production by 20% of contained nickel and cobalt. MSP is a nickel-containing intermediate used in the production of nickel sulphate.  The Moa JV is 50% owned by Sherritt and Cuban government owned General Nickel Company SA.

The joint venture’s power division, through its ownership of Energas SA, is the largest independent energy producer in Cuba with installed electrical generating capacity of 506 MW, representing approximately 10% of  Cuba’s national electrical generating capacity. The Energas facilities are comprised of two combined cycle plants that produce low-cost electricity from one of the lowest carbon emitting sources of power in Cuba. 

Sherritt said that Energas expects that the Varadero facility will operate in frequency control throughout 2025 to help support the stability of the Cuban grid with an estimated reduction in electricity volume of approximately 150 GWh

24 February 2025, Issue 1268

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

17 February 2025

The US Senators Rick Scott (R-Florida) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) have reintroduced a bill aimed at passing into law measures imposing “severe sanctions” on the Cuban government, and on third parties and entities engaged in transactions with sanctioned Cuban persons and bodies.

If passed, The Democracia Act (Denying Earnings to the Military Oligarchy in Cuba and Restricting Activities of the Cuban Intelligence Apparatus act), would authorise the US President to impose “unprecedented financial pressure,” according to Scott, on foreign citizens or entities engaging with many of the most senior members of the Cuban government.

Senator Scott said that the Bill would “impose sanctions—blocking assets and denying entry into the United States—on a foreign person if the President determines that the person knowingly engages in an activity with Cuba’s defence sector, security sector, intelligence sector, or any other sector involved in carrying out human rights abuses or providing support for international terrorism.”

The draft bill also applies sanctions to family members and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 25% or more by one or more designated persons.”

It additionally seeks to sanction almost all members of the Cuban government, military, judiciary, and their family members until Cuba has “released all political prisoners, legalised all political parties, establishes a free press, and holds multiparty elections that are internationally observed elections in a timely manner.”

The bill further requires the US President to “use all means possible to provide unrestricted, reliable internet service to the people of Cuba” that cannot be  blocked.

Initially introduced in October 2021, the Democracia Act has already gained significant support from Republican legislators in the Senate as well as in the House from the Floridian Republican Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, and María Elvira Salazar.

The draft bill has been sent to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for review.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Western Union halts its Cuba money transfer operations
• Government temporarily suspends schools and work activities to save electricity
• New economic management model for media may be applied to other sectors.
• Trump Administration to take ‘very creative’ policy approach to Cuba
• Russia’s Ambassador hopes Díaz-Canel will visit Moscow in May

In an indication of the potential likelihood of the draft bill proceeding, Senator Scott noted on his website that he previously “led this legislation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio last Congress.”

The draft text of the bill and details relating to co-sponsors to date can be found at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/s504/cosponsors

17 February 2025, Issue 1267

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

10 February 2025

Cuba’s Council of Ministers have approved a detailed action plan for 2025 that places special emphasis on the delivery of “a new mechanism for the management, control and allocation of foreign currency for all economic actors; the creation of a foreign exchange market, and the partial dollarisation of the economy.”

Cuban official reporting indicated that Minister’s agreement to the “cross-cutting” action plan is expected to define the steps required this year to deliver the programme of macro-economic reform that was first announced in late 2023 and is intended to “relaunch the economy” in 2025.

The report contained no details of how or when the new forex mechanisms will be introduced or what is to be proposed.

Addressing the meeting, Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, said that the measures were vital to advancing the rest of government’s programme because of their positive impact on two key objectives: “increasing and diversifying the country’s external income” and “Increasing national production, with an emphasis on food.”

The plan he said, requires “a system of work that allows sustainable monitoring and control.” It will also need, he stressed, constant analysis at all levels, “especially the progress of measures that have the greatest impact on the population and communities.”

Much of the reporting of the meeting focused on ministers hearing about progress made on the implementation of planned macroeconomic reforms in 2024 and January 2025. These included, according to the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning, Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre: analysing recommendations; proposals to strengthen the future attractiveness of the Mariel Special Development Zone as a location for foreign direct investment; trade activities by non-state economic actors; the steps taken to date to deliver a  ”new mechanism for the management, control and allocation of foreign currency;” and a proposal for the creation of an official exchange market.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Rubio tightens US sanctions, Cuba suggests more may follow
• Power outages continue to affect up to 45% of country
• Minister says up to 7% of Caribe and CIMEX supermarkets to be dollarised
• President stresses need for improvements in Cuba’s national statistical system
• First of 30,000 migrants flown from US to Guantanamo naval base

The meeting also approved a plan for the topics to be discussed by the Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee this year. These include problems related to the intended future role of municipal assemblies and their ability to discuss and deliver their part of the national Economic Plan and the State Budget for 2025, an issue of growing concern to ministers. Speaking about the topic, Cuba’s Prime Minister said not all the plans and budgets that municipal assemblies had presented  had  a clearly defined alignment with their municipal development strategy. He also noted that their (social and economic infrastructure) maintenance and repair plans did not always consider the proposals of voters, or the need to complete work in neighbourhoods undergoing transformation.

He also stressed that that while actions have been included to increase income and reduce expenses, municipal assembly proposals had not always reflected the need for greater production based on the potential of the territories to meet the demands of the population.

In an interesting indication of the emphasis Cuba is now placing on the development and application of  Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Minister of Communications, Mayra Arevich, presented a strategy for its development and its use in the island’s Digital Transformation Policy. See Cuba Briefing 3 February 2024 for background. Granma reported that the related focus of ministers’ discussions revolved around the six main axes of Cuba’s proposed AI strategy: ethics, the creation of a regulatory framework, the development of human capital, the application of AI to services and public administration, science and innovation, and social communication.

The proposals reportedly envisage the gradual and growing incorporation of AI into daily processes, prioritising those that have the greatest social and economic impact.

Granma quoted President Díaz-Canel as telling ministers that despite the many challenges involved in the development of AI given Cuba’s economic limitations, priority “must be placed on its development,” and he said, on clearly defining how each organisation will use it as a tool to raise productivity.

10 February 2025, Issue 1266

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.

03 February 2025

Cuba is now far ahead of most countries in the region in relation to cybersecurity despite the absence of co-operation from the US, according to senior Cuban officials. It is also rapidly developing an Artificial Intelligence capacity through an integrated programme involving state and private sector entities.

Speaking during a recent edition of the Cuban television programme Mesa Redonda, Yoandry Pardo, the Director of Computerisation at the Ministry of Communications, said that although the Americas is one of the most backward regions in terms of cybersecurity, Cuba in recent years, “and especially now,” has been able to accelerate its  progress as “rapprochements have been achieved in friendly countries such as Russia, China and Vietnam.” 

With approval last year by the government of a digital transformation policy and an artificial intelligence strategy, Pardo said, the importance of the cross-cutting issue of cybersecurity to ensure that both processes are secure has been recognised. Both, he told viewers, were vital for the sovereignty of the country and for the protection of citizens’ data.

Speaking on the same programme, Daniel Perea, the Director General of the Office of Security for Computer Networks (OSRI), noted that as Cuba became a more interconnected society, cybersecurity had become vital to the protection of critical infrastructure and the country’s financial and other gateways.

Perea said that a lack of resources, the US embargo, and the cost of technologies,  all presented additional challenges to Cuba’s ability to counteract cyberattacks against the systems its uses, which are based on free software technology and the development of industry-specific solutions. 

Because Cuba had been excluded from international cooperation to improve responses through the cybersecurity information system, CERTS, it has had to establish its own “CuCERT,” system to receive and examine cybersecurity reports, as well as develop information on emerging threats, Perea noted.

Highlights in this issue: 

• Official figures show visitor arrivals fell by 9.6% last year
• Cuba’s inflation rate in 2024 reached nearly 25%.
• President criticises Trump’s decision to send 30,000 migrants to Guantanamo naval base
• Sweden seeking support for a review of the EU-Cuba PCDA agreement
• Banco Nacional to take CRF I debt issue to UK Supreme Court

Later in the same programme, addressing the evolving cyber threats facing the country as Cuba expands the automation of it industries, Edismar Saavedra, the Director General of Strategic Projection at the Ministry of Industry, noted that Cuba adopts higher the level of automations, the more vulnerable its businesses are to being attacked.

As soon as automatic elements begin to be incorporated into technological lines, they are more vulnerable and “that is why security levels must increase in proportion to the development of the evolution of the industry,” he said.  For this reason, Cuban managers must increase their risk perception and educate their staff to consolidate industrial cybersecurity in all facilities, Saavedra observed.

The broadcast made clear the continuing centrality to Cuba’s cyber security and AI development of the Faculty of Cybersecurity at the Cuba’s University of Computer Sciences (UCI) located near Havana, and UCI itself which was established in 2002 and is now producing annually large numbers of graduates for all parts of the Cuban government and helping develop rapidly emerging groups of private developers.

Speaking on the programme, Dr Mónica Peña, the UCI’s Dean, stressed the importance now being placed on the training of cybersecurity specialists to respond to current demands. Specialist degree courses in cybersecurity engineering and short cycle courses have, she said, been established involving what she described as “a fairly large enrolment, from various sectors of society.”  UCI, she said, was now providing one of the most advanced degree courses in Latin America, addressing topics such as critical infrastructure security, forensic computing, and secure software development.

In a separate but related development, Russia and Cuba have agreed to implement several joint projects related to non-western communications and information technology.

According to the Russian media, a recent seminar in Cuba, “The Path to Technological Independence,” reportedly addressed collaboration based on “reliable Russian platforms. At the event, Valentin Makarov, the President of Russia’s Russoft Association, spoke about how the organisation’s  focus on the global market changed in 2022 following the start of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

The Association’s task now, he said, was to reorient itself towards the domestic market, with a strong emphasis on import substitution programmes, enabling it “to replace all Western technology to achieve full sovereignty.” This was an experience, he said,  that Russoft “now wants to transfer to friendly countries such as Cuba.”

Makarov, was reported to have said that the hope is that joint projects with the Cuban company Aikros would enable the development  of a platform to provide computer products for the Latin American market.  Russoft brings together more than 360 Russian companies which together have  about 100,000 employees,

Cuban reporting relating to the meeting indicated that at it, both Russia and Cuba had “expressed their support for developing collaboration for the use of Artificial Intelligence,” and the importance of Russia’s experience with automation in relation to Cuba’s national energy system.

Cuba has also made clear that it is placing significant emphasis on developing its expertise in relation  to artificial intelligence by joining with entities in BRICS member countries and as reported previously, with China.

In the case of the BRICS plus group, of which Cuba is now an associate member, the island is now a part of the BRICS AI ​​Alliance Network and is aiming to develop closer strategic cooperation. It is also hoping to explore possible financial support from the Russian state bank, Sberbank, that is available to facilitate joint research in AI technology and regulation in BRICS plus nations. In Cuba’s case, according to Rafael Luis Torralbas, the President of the Havana Scientific and Technological Park, a Cuban commercial entity,  it is planning an event for this year that is expected to bring together experts from BRICS plus  countries and related organisations to present projects and seek support from Sberbank’s common fund.

Although Cuba has  a community of researchers, there are so far few national developers or products and services that incorporate AI. To address this, Cuba has established a national development strategy for AI involving all research groups and universities working in the area with the objective of delivering a national digital transformation policy. The intention now, officials say, is to create and implement an AI strategy that will initially be applied to higher education, transcripting voice to text, and developing cutting-edge generative AI technologies, before moving on to other objectives.

03 February 2025, Issue 1265

 The Caribbean Council is able to provide further detail about all of the stories in Cuba Briefing. If you would like a more detailed insight into any of the content of today’s issue, please get in touch.