LatinNews Daily - 13 July 2026

*Cuba’s agriculture minister, Ydael Pérez Brito, has announced new measures related to the sweeping package of economic reforms announced last month as part of efforts to appease the US, which is piling unprecedented pressure on Havana to push for its economic and political opening. Among the measures announced yesterday were plans to simplify the process for granting land under usufruct (the right to use and profit from another person's property). Under the new rules, whoever is seeking to use the land must provide details of their proposed use of the land, whether for livestock, orchards, various crops, or other purposes. The estimated timeframe for the land to be handed over for this will not exceed 15 to 20 days. Pérez Brito also revealed that hectare limits for land to be granted under usufruct and the proposed time of exploitation had been scrapped. He said that all economic actors can apply to use the land in this way – self-employed individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, joint ventures, and foreign investors – provided it is used for food production or export. Most recently, on 11 July, marking the five-year anniversary of the unprecedented protests which erupted over economic, health, and political grievances, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio again appeared to reject the latest reforms, saying that: “Sadly, the regime and its corrupt elites continue to refuse any efforts at meaningful reform” and the US “will continue to use every tool at our disposal to both address the national security threats posed by the Cuban Communist regime, and to drive the economic and political reforms to give Cuba a better future”.

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