Under US pressure, Cuba unveils largest economic reform in decades
National Assembly votes unanimously to approve dozens of reforms aimed at opening up the struggling island’s economy
Cuban lawmakers on Thursday adopted nearly 200 historic free-market reforms aimed at rescuing the communist island from a severe crisis aggravated by a US oil blockade.
In a landmark speech to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero unveiled 176 measures aimed at rolling back the state’s role in the economy and attracting investment in everything from banking to tourism and agriculture.
Under the reforms, foreign investors were no longer required to form joint ventures with the state, large private enterprises would be authorised and both Cuban and foreign investors would be allowed to acquire stakes in state companies.
These and other huge changes come as the United States exerts relentless pressure on the island, with President Donald Trump musing openly about taking over the Caribbean nation just 145km (90 miles) from Florida.
Daniel Torralbas, a London-based Cuban economist, described the reforms as “the most profound” since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro.
They were adopted in a unanimous show of hands by lawmakers at a session which ended with President Miguel Diaz-Canel intoning Castro’s famous revolutionary slogan: “Socialism or death!”