Cuba unveils 176 economic reforms as US calls them superficial

The Cuban government presented a package of 176 measures aimed at liberalising the island’s economy, including greater foreign investment, decentralised management of state firms and reforms to tourism and real‑estate sectors. The reforms are intended to alleviate a severe economic crisis caused by the U.S. embargo, which restricts tourism, medical‑service exports and access to international finance.

The U.S. State Department responded that the measures are modest and “nothing more than a superficial smoke screen” launched by the Cuban regime, and said Washington expects deeper economic and political changes to make Cuba attractive to investors and to grant its people greater freedoms. Relations between Washington and Havana remain strained under the long‑standing embargo.

Economist Maicon Cláudio da Silva noted that the U.S. blockade limits any genuine market‑based transformation, arguing that “while the reforms appear to move Cuba toward a market, the embargo prevents the emergence of a bourgeoisie that could drive such a shift.”