3701. State Council of Cuba Approves New Decree-Laws as Part of Implementing Economic and Social Transformations

 By Cuban Parliament, Granma, July 16, 2026

Cuban Parliament, photo: Granma

The decree-laws "On the Cuban State Business System" and "Amendment to Decree-Law No. 76 on Agricultural Cooperatives" were approved in the extraordinary session of the State Council held as part of the process of implementing economic and social transformations.

The decree-laws "On the Cuban State Business System" and "Amendment to Decree-Law No. 76 on Agricultural Cooperatives" were approved in the extraordinary session of the State Council held as part of the process of implementing economic and social transformations, which was chaired by the President of this body, Esteban Lazo Hernández.

During the meeting, it was reported that, based on the implementation of the economic and social transformations analyzed by the Political Bureau, the Extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, the National Assembly of People's Power, and the Council of Ministers, it is necessary to update the regulatory framework governing the Cuban state-owned enterprise system.

The first of the approved decree-laws seeks to regulate the general principles of organization and operation of the state-owned enterprise system for its transformation and development under the leadership of the National Institute of State-Owned Enterprise Assets.

"It addresses 16 of the 17 transformations corresponding to Thematic Area 1: Transformations in the management model of economic actors, related to the Socialist State Enterprise; as well as facilitating the implementation of 12 transformations from other areas," stated Roberto Ricardo Marrero, president of the National Institute of State-Owned Enterprise Assets.

Meanwhile, Yovana Vega Mato, an executive at the Ministry of Economy and Planning, added that this legislation constitutes the platform that enables the state-owned enterprise system, under the leadership of the National Institute of State Business Assets, to exercise all its powers and carry out all the mandated transformations, which are articulated with a set of legal norms currently being drafted.

In the debate, Esteban Lazo highlighted the relevance of the decree-law "On the Cuban State-Owned Enterprise System," which reaffirms the socialist state-owned enterprise as the main actor in the national economy, as well as contributing to expanding the powers that comprise the autonomy of the state-owned enterprise, unleashing its productive forces, and defining corporate social responsibility.

For its part, the decree-law "Amending Decree-Law No. 76 on Agricultural Cooperatives" regulates the constitution, organization, integration, and operation of these cooperatives, based on the necessary update of this regulatory provision in accordance with economic and social transformations.

Both decree-laws will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic for public awareness.

The extraordinary session of the Council of State also delved into how this body will contribute, through its constitutional powers, particularly in legislative and oversight matters, to the implementation of economic and social transformations. These transformations aim to further refine our socialist construction process and contribute to the nation's economic growth and social development.

2185. The Debate on Cuba’s Farm Crisis: Pessimists vs. Optimists

By Erasmo Caldazilla, Havana Times, February 2, 2016

Regions in Cuba suffer from climate change induced drought

Cuban agriculture is going through one of its recurrent crisis. What is the cause this time around?

One sector sees speculation and a lack of regulations as the root of the problem, while others claim just the opposite: regulations and State intervention is what Cuba has too much of.

What should be regulated and what should we liberalized in Cuba’s economy and agricultural sector today? I’m not entirely sure. The only thing I know is that all extremes have already been tried somewhere and that they are bad.

That said, I am fascinated by how our deep-thinking analysts have assumed it’s possible – and would be splendid – to squeeze more out of the countryside in order to accelerate agricultural production. You can find people as different as Machado Ventura (No. 2 in the Communist Party), from the high echelons of the Party bureaucracy, and reform-minded economists Juan Triana and Armando Nova, espousing this view. There is of course no shortage of passionate defenders of full capitalist liberalization.

I ended a previous post with two questions: “is this really our best option or is there a better one?” No one who commented on my post paid any attention to these queries.

I am of the opinion that it is not the only option available and it is quite possibly not the best. I explain why below.

Climate Change

Cienfuegos during a rainy season.

I have a relative who’s a farmer. Not long ago, he told us how delighted he was with the top-notch field of beans he had managed to sow thanks to the unusual heat and rains this time of the year. The day before yesterday, we found out the unusual downpours of recent days had destroyed his crop and enthusiasm.

Agro-meteorologists and the FAO have been saying it for years: agricultural productivity, stability and revenues will fall. These are not predictions for a hundred years from now, they describe a process that’s already underway.

Last year was one of the hottest on record. Cuba’s average temperature has risen gradually. Currently, it is 0.9 degrees Celsius above the historical mean (and low temperatures have risen much more). This may not seem like a lot, but it’s actually a huge increase.

The sea level has risen at an average of 1.4 millimeters every year, contributing to the much-feared salinization processes, which already affect 10% of the country’s land. Draughts have become chronic towards the country’s east. Eleven out of Cuba’s 14 provinces show signs of desertification. It does rain, but so intensely and tempestuously that ends up ruining crops. The sugarcane harvest is behind schedule because of the rains that unexpectedly fell during the dry season.

Taken from the blog of Gail Tverberg

Energy

The other issue absent from the debate surrounding the agricultural crisis is that of energy. Capitalism – and then the revolution – sought to establish “modern” agriculture in Cuba, which requires as much oil as it does water. Black gold consumption, however, has been declining in Cuba since the end of the last decade, and not precisely because we are becoming efficient. Since 2013, the government has not published any statistics on this, a sign that things are getting even worse. Most countries in the region (including ours) have already surpassed their extraction peak and will be plunged into a serious economic, political and social crisis at some point in time.

Soils

Tourism ads sell Cuba as a tropical island with exuberant flora and fauna. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our soils evince a degree of erosion that’s so high that this has been considered the country’s chief environmental problem since 1997.

The following data offer a sense of the magnitude of the disaster:

• 65% of cultivable lands have potential yields below 50%.
• More than 70% of farming lands report poor (and decreasing) concentrations of organic matter. The once fertile plains surrounding the capital (which feeds nearly one third of the country’s population) is seriously affected by this problem. A century ago, it reported a high 8% of organic matter. Today, its fertility is below 3%. In the country’s east, the situation is not much different and is aggravated by draughts and desertification.
• The agro-productive potential of Cuba’s mountains can be classified as anywhere from middle to low.
• 60% of cultivable lands suffer from acidity, high salinity, high sodium levels, compactness, poor drainage and other ills that affect their fertility.

With such alarming signs everywhere, one cannot help but ask: will Cuba be capable of the steep increase in agricultural production we need to satisfy growing demand and to lower prices?

Environmentalists, agro-meteorologists and risk analysts who have studied our country’s energy situation don’t think that’s too likely. But a team of high-ranking economists, State officials and the fans of liberal reforms see absolutely no problem. If Vietnam could do it, why can’t we?

Notes:

• The data on the state of Cuban soils were taken from a report prepared by Geocuba and from several articles written by environmentalist Eudel Cepero.
• Since 1997, Cuba’s Environmental agency has regarded soil degradation as the country’s most pressing environmental issue.

1595. Cuba to the Rescue: Ebola-Stricken Countries Welcome Cuban Doctors

By Whitney Eulich, Christian Science Monitor, October 15, 2014

Cuban medical volunteers arrive in Sierra Leone

Cuba has a long history of exporting doctors and nurses, ever since its 1959 revolution led by communist leader Fidel Castro. So when Ebola struck in West Africa, Cuba was quick to step up to the plate. In recent weeks, it has dispatched 165 health workers to Sierra Leone, making it the largest nation-provider of medial professionals working to help contain the epidemic. And it's preparing to send another nearly 300 workers to Liberia and Guinea in the coming weeks. 

More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola and nearly 9,000 have contracted the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Those numbers are predicted to grow at a rapid pace if Ebola is not contained: WHO has forecast that West Africa could see 10,000 new cases a week by December.

While financial aid and other support like food and security have trickled into the region as the world wakes up to the threat posed by Ebola, human resources are in highest demand. “Money and materials are important, but those two things alone cannot stop Ebola virus transmission,” Margaret Chan, director-general at the WHO said late last month.

The US is the biggest financial donor to the fight against Ebola, pledging $400 million in aid and sending some 4,000 troops to the region. But in terms of trained healthcare workers, its contribution has been 65 uniformed officers from the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, reports The Wall Street Journal. 

Cuba is "punching above its weight," when it comes to the fight against Ebola, reports The Washington Post. The island nation of 11 million isn't wealthy; its GDP per capita is less than one-sixth that of Britain's. 

"The little we have, we share. Our principle resource is human capital,” Dr. Jorge Perez Avila, the director of the Pedro Kouri Institute for Tropical Medicine in Havana, told CNN.

Deploying doctors 
This is the first time Cuban doctors have mobilized to fight Ebola, and Cuban state media reports that some 15,000 health professionals have expressed an interest in traveling to West African nations to help.

Under Castro, Cuba nationalized its healthcare system and inserted a constitutional guarantee of free healthcare for all. As a result, health indicators on the island have greatly improved, reports The Washington Post.

Havana regularly sends medical aid and teams of healthcare workers to nations suffering natural disasters. The Post writes that health workers are “up there with rum and cigars in terms of Cuban exports.”

• Soon after its revolution, Cuba sent doctors to Chile to help the nation recover from a deadly 1960 earthquake.

• Cuba sent 2,500 health workers to Pakistan after an earthquake in 2005.

• 1,500 Cuban health professionals traveled to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake.

• Some 30,000 Cubans currently work in Venezuela’s health system; Cuba is partially paid in oil for its contribution. 

• An estimated 4,500 Cuban doctors are currently supplementing Brazil’s public health system in rural parts of the country or undesirable city neighborhoods.

“We work on malaria, cholera, dengue, a disaster situation, floods in Venezuela, floods in Guatemala, floods in Belize,” Jorge Delgado Bustillo, head of the Cuban Medical Brigade to Sierra Leone, told The Wall Street Journal.

Mixed response to Cuban doctors
Although Cuban doctors are known around the world for their service, their reception abroad is not always warm.

According to The Christian Science Monitor, when Brazil announced its Mais Medicos program, which brings thousands of foreign doctors – including many Cuban – to work in areas lacking medical personnel, there was resistance from Brazilian health professionals.

When the program was announced, the Brazilian Medical Association argued that the country didn't need more doctors and unsuccessfully sued to stop the program, which it called "electioneering." And some warned that the foreign doctors – particularly the thousands arriving from Cuba – were unqualified and coming to take Brazilian jobs….
Criticism is harshest around the arrival of Cuban doctors. Though Cuba has a record of exporting top-notch medical care to places like Venezuela, Honduras, and Haiti, some say the quality doesn't live up to its reputation. They are also seen as victims of the program: "slave laborers" in thrall to the Cuban government.

The program pays foreign governments 10,000 reais (about $4,500) per month per doctor. In most cases that money is then transferred directly to the professionals. However, Cuban doctors working in Brazil have reportedly received a small fraction of this salary, and ended up living on an income below minimum wage. Some Cuban doctors in Brazil have even defected from the program and sought asylum.

In Venezuela, criticism of Cuban care often falls along class lines, with wealthier citizens sharing tales of botched procedures or faulty diagnoses. However, Cuban doctors and nurse mostly practice in slums where the poorest live. In 2005, a reporter for the Monitor saw “first-hand why the Cuban doctors working in Venezuela [were] so effective at creating goodwill between the two countries.”

"I was very impressed by the Cuban doctors and gym teachers and what they are doing for the poor neighborhoods," says Danna [Harman].

Critics charge that the doctors are not really doctors but only medics or nurses, she says. "That may be true, but they are right there in the neighborhoods, they know the community, and they are paying attention to people's problems, which is enough, in many cases, for people to feel better," she says.

For example, Danna was feeling ill and went to a private hospital in Caracas this week. "I waited for almost two hours and was confronted by a rude receptionist and an unfriendly doctor, who told me I needed to go see a specialist - and then charged me a lot of money.

"I wished I'd just gone back to the barrio and checked in with the Cuban medic I'd interviewed for today's story. At least she would have made me feel better psychologically, even if she didn't actually solve the problem.

To be sure, fighting Ebola will take more than a friendly doctor. Doctors were trained by WHO-standards in Cuba before arriving in Sierra Leone. But there were still some cultural issues that needed to be checked upon arrival. 

“They’re a very cuddly people,” Katrina Roper, a technical officer with the UN told The Wall Street Journal. The Cuban professionals were shaking each other's hands and hugging at their welcome ceremony. Ebola is transferred through bodily fluids, including sweat; public health campaigns in West Africa have tried to discourage hugging and embracing. “Tomorrow will be me explaining why they have to stop shaking hands and sharing things,” Ms. Roper said.