LatinNews Daily - 18 March 2026

*US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the economic reforms unveiled on 16 March by the Cuban government were “not dramatic enough”. Among the reforms announced, Cubans living abroad without effective residency in the country would for the first time be able to invest in private businesses in Cuba and partner with private Cuban economic actors. However, speaking at the White House yesterday, Rubio said Cuba “has an economy that doesn’t work” and “they have to change dramatically”. Havana announced the changes amid official talks with the US administration led by President Donald Trump which is piling unprecedented pressure on it through an oil blockade, and amid continued threats by Trump of a takeover which he has said may be “friendly” or “not… friendly”. The Miami Herald cites Cuba’s foreign trade and investment minister, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who announced the reforms, as saying that “these decisions can be implemented very quickly from the point of view that they do not require major changes to legal regulations”, which the Herald says “let[s] slip the limited scope of the economic opening”.

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