Crisis-hit Cuba opens pharmacies, gas stations to private firms
The Cuban government has issued a decree allowing private firms to operate in previously state-run sectors, including energy, medicine, and waste management. This shift aims to address severe shortages and economic instability caused by long-standing U.S. energy blockades.
Why it matters
This represents a significant ideological pivot for Cuba's communist leadership, signaling a desperate attempt to stabilize the economy through market-oriented reforms.
Cuba moved to open crisis-ravaged parts of the state-run economy to private firms Wednesday (July 30, 2026), as the communist government struggles to ease acute shortages resulting from a U.S. energy blockade.
A lengthy decree lifted restrictions on a swath of sectors including gas distribution, electricity generation, trash collection and the manufacture and sale of medicines.
A U.S. fuel embargo has upended daily life in Cuba, deepening rolling blackouts, water cuts and acute shortages of food and medicine.
The latest reforms seemed designed to target the most affected parts of daily life, and to provide a release valve for growing political pressure.
With piles of rubbish lining the streets of Havana, private firms will be able to operate waste collection and recycling services.
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