{"id":23728,"date":"2026-08-01T00:48:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23728"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T19:48:31","slug":"cubas-diaz-canel-defends-economic-reforms-blames-u-s-for-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23728","title":{"rendered":"Cuba&#8217;s D\u00edaz-Canel defends economic reforms, blames U.S. for crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/2731785523519\/2026\/i\/17855246882979\/v1.5\/Cubas-Daz-Canel-defends-economic-reforms-blames-US-for-crisis.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) reacts during the political ceremony marking the 73rd anniversary of the failed assault on the Moncada Barracks in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Sunday. Diaz-Canel compared the U.S. government to the Nazis and accused it of implementing a \u201cgenocidal policy\u201d against the island that seeks to \u201ctake over the entire country.\u201d Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 31 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel defended a sweeping package of economic reforms, while blaming U.S. sanctions for the island&#8217;s deepening economic crisis.<\/p>\n<p>He said Washington&#8217;s policies have worsened power outages, fuel shortages and the country&#8217;s economic decline.\n<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the closing session of Cuba&#8217;s National Assembly on Thursday, D\u00edaz-Canel described Cuba as &#8220;a fortress under siege&#8221; and accused the current U.S. administration of reviving elements of German fascism through what he called policies of economic coercion and collective punishment. <\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-block embed-object\" contenteditable=\"false\" readonly=\"readonly\"><emb><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>Sin que haya cesado totalmente el genocidio sobre <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Gaza?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">#Gaza<\/a>, se intenta reeditarlo, sobre m\u00e1s de nueve millones de cubanos, a trav\u00e9s de un bloqueo econ\u00f3mico y un cerco energ\u00e9tico, que han llevado el sufrimiento del pueblo cubano a niveles extremos.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SBPagNgcAQ\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/SBPagNgcAQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1\/5\u2014 Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel Berm\u00fadez (@DiazCanelB) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DiazCanelB\/status\/2083158817819246623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">July 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <\/emb><\/div>\n<p>He contended that Washington&#8217;s &#8220;energy blockade&#8221; severely restricted fuel shipments to the island, noting that Cuba received only one fuel tanker in the past seven months.\n<\/p>\n<p>According to D\u00edaz-Canel, the fuel shortage has left about 1,400 megawatts of distributed power generation unavailable each day, contributing to prolonged nationwide blackouts and disrupting agriculture, tourism, healthcare and water supplies.<\/p>\n<p>The Cuban leader also accused the United States of pressuring third countries and foreign companies to avoid doing business with Cuba to trigger social unrest and overthrow the country&#8217;s socialist government.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside those accusations, D\u00edaz-Canel unveiled what he described as one of the government&#8217;s most significant economic overhauls in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>He said authorities have approved 176 economic and social transformation measures, with 120 ready to be implemented. The reforms are designed to expand productive capacity, encourage investment, strengthen state-owned, private and cooperative businesses, increase exports, attract foreign currency, and grant municipalities and state enterprises greater economic autonomy.<\/p>\n<p>D\u00edaz-Canel acknowledged public concerns over growing private wealth, income inequality and the expansion of private businesses, but insisted the reforms do not represent a shift away from socialism.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The transformations we are implementing are not for more capitalism, but to defend and advance the construction of socialism,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also stressed that the reforms &#8220;are not being adopted to please the United States&#8221; or as the result of bilateral talks with Washington, calling them a sovereign decision by the Cuban government.\n<\/p>\n<p>The president pledged there would be no privatization of healthcare, education, science, culture or other strategic public services.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez echoed many of those arguments in a separate address before lawmakers, accusing the United States of undermining international law through unilateral sanctions, economic coercion and military threats. <\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-block embed-object\" contenteditable=\"false\" readonly=\"readonly\"><emb><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>El gobierno de Estados Unidos conoce muy bien nuestra disposici\u00f3n a encontrar soluci\u00f3n a las diferencias bilaterales por la v\u00eda del di\u00e1logo y le consta la paciencia con que hemos aceptado su propuesta de conversar sobre bases de respeto. Observa nuestra disposici\u00f3n a acceder un&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bYRQ3YXb6o\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/bYRQ3YXb6o<\/a>\u2014 Bruno Rodr\u00edguez P (@BrunoRguezP) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrunoRguezP\/status\/2082570640750522504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>  <\/emb><\/div>\n<p>Rodr\u00edguez said Washington is attempting to isolate Cuba from the global economy by cutting off its access to fuel, technology and financing, while promoting what he described as a doctrine of &#8220;peace through strength.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated Havana&#8217;s willingness to maintain dialogue with the United States provided Cuba&#8217;s sovereignty is respected, while thanking governments, international organizations and solidarity groups that continue to oppose the U.S. embargo.<\/p>\n<p>D\u00edaz-Canel also reaffirmed his government&#8217;s commitment to socialism, saying the reforms are intended to preserve rather than replace Cuba&#8217;s political and economic model.\n<\/p>\n<p>He closed his speech by paying tribute to late revolutionary leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Fidel_Castro\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Fidel Castro\" class=\"tpstyle\">Fidel Castro<\/a> and repeating the slogans &#8220;Socialism or Death&#8221; and &#8220;Homeland or Death, We Will Prevail.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) reacts during the political ceremony marking the 73rd anniversary of the failed assault on the Moncada Barracks in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Sunday. Diaz-Canel compared the U.S. government to the Nazis and accused it of implementing a \u201cgenocidal policy\u201d against the island that seeks to \u201ctake over the entire&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/i\/2731785523519\/2026\/1\/17855246882979\/v1.5\/Cubas-Daz-Canel-defends-economic-reforms-blames-US-for-crisis.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}