14ymedio, Havana, 13 October 2023 — The conclusion of the most recent report by the online opposition platform Cuba Siglo 21 (21st Century Cuba) on the emergence of small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) on the island is that they have been a resounding failure. Designed as an attempt to breath life into the Island’s moribund economy — and in the process replenish the state’s coffers — they never managed to attract capital from the Cuban exile community nor did they generate the economic freedom needed to fulfill their promise.
According to Cuban business consultant and Cuba Siglo 21 director Emilio Morales, who edited the report, “The effort by the Cuban regime to liberalize the economy through the MSME law has been resoundingly rejected not only by Cubans living on the island but also by Cuban exiles.”
The proof is in the number of private businesses registered since 2021, when the government adopted a law that allowed for the creation of private companies. Cubans have paid thousands of dollars to leave the country. Money that, under different circumstances, could have provided any of them the start-up capital for a small private business.
In the last three years, half a million Cubans arrived at the Mexican border in hopes of entering the United States. Morales estimates that another million and a half managed to get in, or hope to get in, through the so-called parole program. Together, these figures represent roughly 20% of Cuba’s total population.
“In monetary terms, we could say that, if fully implemented, this program could represent an investment of around thirty billion dollars by the Cuban diaspora over a period of three to six months. More a rescue operation than immigration program, it dwarfs any other previous effort,” he says. “Given the hard choice that Cubans face today — to start over by emigrating or opening a new business under the new MSME legislation — they have decided overwhelmingly to emigrate.”
According to Morales, the mass demonstrations of July 11, 2021 were a watershed moment in the government policies
According to Morales, the mass demonstrations of July 11, 2021 were a watershed moment in government’s policy, which split into two approaches. On the one hand, there was an obvious increase in repression, which lead to hundreds more political prisoners in jail. On the other hand, the state quickly looked for a way to assuage the public mood. Both the apparent economic liberalization for private citizens and free visas to go to Nic
