This week’s edition features new episodes of Pensar Cuba, our podcast co-produced with elTOQUE and hosted by Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada. In this installment, the conversations explore entrepreneurship and migration as drivers of change, with stories that showcase Cubans’ ability to reinvent themselves and build projects with international impact from abroad.
On the economic front, Ricardo Torres provides a first read of the government’s newly released 92-page economic plan, the tourism sector’s historic shift toward hotel leasing arrangements with international chains, and the structural roots of Cuba’s deepening energy crisis—a comprehensive roundup that cuts through official rhetoric to examine what these developments actually mean for the island’s future.
We also highlight reports that Havana has allegedly informed the Nicolás Maduro government that it will not offer military support, examine the impact of Donald Trump’s travel ban on Cuban families, and cover the evacuation of the migrant detention center at Guantánamo. Among the national headlines, Cuba braces for the arrival of Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm expected to hit the eastern provinces with devastating winds and torrential rains. The island has also become the scene of the arrest of a Chinese fentanyl kingpin who escaped from Mexico and witnessed a historic shift in its tourism policy, with GAESA set to lease hotels directly to international chains. Added to this is the censorship of a tribute to Celia Cruz on her centenary—a reminder of the cultural repression that still afflicts the island.
