Díaz-Canel Announces Economic Reform Package Amid Record Blackouts

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel outlined a sweeping economic adjustment package of 10 objectives, 111 goals, and 505 specific actions aimed at preventing a collapse similar to Venezuela's. The reforms focus on decentralization, improved state–private sector relations, an updated foreign investment law, energy transition through solar, agroecology, and science and innovation. The announcement came amid Cuba's worst electricity crisis in decades, with generation deficits reaching 1,945 MW in early April — causing blackouts of up to 25 hours in eastern provinces. The government simultaneously rewarded the Electric Company of Cienfuegos for performance while millions of Cubans endured 15–24 hour daily outages. Analysts noted the reform package stopped far short of the political changes demanded by the US as conditions for lifting the oil blockade that has been in effect since January 2026.