MIAMI, United States. – The Deputy Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States Department of State, Brian A. Nichols, warned that the regulations adopted by the Cuban Government on December 5 “will further restrict” independent entrepreneurs on the Island, aggravating food insecurity.
“Cubans deserve better,” stated the official in his social network account X.
The regulations, published in The Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba and signed by the Minister of Internal Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, imposes severe limitations on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and to self-employed workers, by prohibiting independent wholesale trade.
Cuban government regulations adopted on December 5 will further restrict the country’s independent entrepreneurs and worsen food insecurity on the island. Cubans deserve better.
— Brian A. Nichols (@WHAAsstSecty) December 10, 2024
According to the text, licenses that included wholesale activity as secondary are canceled ex officio, and requires that these operations be carried out only through state entities or state marketing companies.
From now on, MSMEs whose main objective is production will be able to sell wholesale only their own products, and always under contracts with the State. Those that do not comply with these conditions or do not renew their licenses within 90 business days will lose the right to engage in wholesale trade. Furthermore, this type of operation is completely prohibited for self-employed workers.
The new provisions come after months in which the First Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Ana Teresita González Fraga, had indicated the objective of stimulating wholesale trade with foreign investment. However, with this new framework, the Cuban Government assumes total control, restricting the activities of non-state forms of management and limiting their margin of action.
In September, the closure of the Chinese wholesale market “China Import”after barely two months of operation, was already anticipating greater state interventionism. The authorities then justified these actions as part of the “improvement” of the regulatory framework for non-state forms of management and their relations with the state sector.
Currently, the Island is going through a crisis characterized by food shortages and long blackouts due to breakdowns and lack of fuel, problems that the new regulations could aggravate by further undermining the ability of independent entrepreneurs to supply the population.
