LatinNews Daily - 24 May 2024

*Cuba’s Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) government led by President Miguel Díaz-Canel has replaced Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba’s minister of foreign trade and investment (Mincex). The octogenarian, who retains his other post of deputy prime minister, had headed up Mincex since April 2023, when he was brought in to replace Rodrigo Malmierca, a decision which Díaz-Canel said owed to his “experience and management capabilities.” The government did not give reasons for the dismissal of Cabrisas, who has been replaced by his deputy, 53-year-old electronic engineer, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who has over 15 years in the foreign trade sector, where, among other things, he served as director of business evaluation for the Mariel special development zone (ZED Mariel). However, it is eye-catching given other recent high-level changes such as the replacement in February of Economy Minister Alejandro Gil (2018-2024) who is now the subject of an investigation into “serious errors in the performance of his duties.” The changes come as Cuba’s economy continues to falter as a result of the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, devastation wreaked by various hurricanes, and US economic sanctions, among other things. The latest (9 May) forecast from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) projects Cuba’s GDP will grow just 1.3% in 2024, well below the 2.1% average for Latin America & the Caribbean although above the contraction of 1-2% last year which Gil admitted the country could have posted.