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A Second Cuban Revolution – or, A New Alliance with China?

 

picture of dilapidated buildings in CubaBuildings dilapidated for lack of construction materials, and only old cars to drive, are among the results of over 60 years of US embargo on Cuba.

In June 2026, Cuban lawmakers unanimously approved an emergency package of 176 radical economic reforms. They are the most radical changes since the 1959 Revolution. Generally, these are based on the Chinese model of Market Socialism. And, as in China, the Communist Party will remain the key source of policy making.  

The reforms will:

·         reduce top-down central planning

·         increase private enterprise, deregulated trade, and dismantled price controls 

·         allow import/export businesses to operate as free enterprises

·         encourage direct financial investment from its own expatriate and diaspora communities living abroad

·         free citizens to own multiple firms or purchase stakes in other existing companies for the first time

·         give state owned enterprises profit-retention rights and pricing autonomy

·         allow workers to negotiate wages without state interference

·         unleash private banking

·         take on more of a regulatory role and allow market dynamics to determine pricing, and employment

·         permit private real estate development all across the island

·         let companies hire more than 100 employees

·         provide financial aid to those who need it

·         retain the free education and medical system

Unhappily, and it’s no surprise, all these reforms are not enough to satisfy the USA. The US State Department dismissed the reforms as "Superficial Smoke Signals" meant to fool the public so they won’t rebel. There will be no embargo relief for Cuba from the USA. Instead, the US imposed a new set of sanctions on the island.

So, why bother?

While the US State Department is unimpressed, many of the changes made will accommodate the requirements of China to enable its entrepreneurs to get busy in the Cuban economy. For example, Cuba has jettisoned its old law requiring foreign investors to form joint ventures with the state. Having ceased import controls, Chinese businesses can supply Cuban start ups directly. The time may come when Chinese EVs, built in new Cuban plants, will replace those old Chevies and Fords. Electronic devices, like PCs and Smart Phones, can now be imported from China despite US sanctions.

The US government thinks it has Cuba over a barrel because it has blockaded all oil imports. But China has begun a massive transformation in Cuba from fossil fuel dependency to renewable sources of energy. Nearly 100 solar panel parks are being set up in places where homes, schools, businesses, hospitals, government offices, etc. can tap into them for a dependable energy source.

Although the US will sanction any bank that loans Cuba needed funds, BRICS, and especially China, will extend lines of credit. China’s Yuan will become a major part of Cuba’s financial system. A loan worth $80M has already been made. China is taking shares in new Cuban businesses as payment on debts Cuba owes it. Mining operations run be Chinese firms will extract and export minerals like Cuban zinc, cobalt, and nickel.

With all commercial transactions conducted online, there will be nothing for the US to “catch” as a breach of its sanctions.

Just as the Marshall Plan once sent business, finance, agricultural, and governing experts to train Europeans after WWII, China is doing the same for Cuba. The new laws and reforms in Cuba have opened the doors for the salvation of that beleaguered little island. The days of suffering at the hands of the World’s Biggest and Cruelest Bully – our United States – are numbered.

China has already shown the world how Market Socialism can achieve Humanitarian goals by lifting 800M of its own people out of poverty. Once that Mode of Production is implemented in Cuba, we are likely to soon see, despite US sanctions, a prosperous, fully employed middle class in Cuba without poverty.

William J. Kelleher, PhD

PS

For more detail see, U.S.-driven humanitarian crisis forces changes on Cuba June 24, 2026. W. T. Whitney, Jr.

https://peoplesworld.org/article/u-s-driven-humanitarian-crisis-forces-changes-on-cuba/

Excellent article, but omits the role of China.


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