LatinNews Daily - 01 September 2026

*Cuba’s Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) government has announced that new legislation has taken effect which updates rules regarding domestic trade. According to Havana the legislation includes two decrees, 167 and 168, along with other resolutions which aim to “simplify procedures, recognise the increasing significance of non-state actors, and digitise trade processes” with regard to domestic trade. For example, decree 168 introduces “substantial changes” including defining the concept of a trade establishment, setting the requirement to submit a declaration of responsibility to begin operations, and stipulating that establishments that don’t operate in national currency must pay their license fees in foreign currency. The legislation is in line with the sweeping economic reform package unveiled by the PCC government in June as part of efforts to appease Washington which is applying a maximum pressure campaign aimed at forcing its economic and political opening. It comes amid ongoing alarm regarding the humanitarian impact of these measures on the island. Yesterday, the Cuba Study Group, a US-based non-partisan policy and advocacy organisation comprising Cuban-American business leaders, issued a report calling for a “stronger humanitarian response to Cuba’s deepening crisis” as a result of the US’ sanctions which include a fuel blockade. It calls for the US to “establish a humanitarian exemption for fuel donated by the international community with safeguards against diversion” as well as to create a “general authorization for humanitarian medical donations to Cuba” and a “functioning humanitarian and private-sector financial corridor”, among other things. This all comes as Mike Hammer, chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Havana, met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington DC yesterday to provide “an update on the current situation in Cuba” as well as US efforts to deliver US$100m in humanitarian assistance, the first shipment of which arrived in July.

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