International
Cuba, crisis and dollarization: without foreign exchange there is no country
The shortage of bread and rice, liquefied gas and gasoline, basic medicines and public transport, even daily blackouts. Many symptoms of the Cuban polycrisis have their origin in a common problem: the lack of foreign exchange of a state that monopolizes vast sectors of the economy.
The Liquefied Gas Company reported on Monday that it had no balitas (cylinders) until “the next import”, just one day after a freighter with 24,000 tons of wheat docked in Havana, where the manufacture of bread had been paralyzed due to lack of flour.
For weeks the queues at the service centros (gas stations) have been perpetual and many electric generation engines remain at a stop due to a shortage of imported fuel, while large areas of the country suffer blackouts of 20 or more hours a day.
“There is a critical shortage of foreign currency in the country,” Cuban economist and doctor in Public Policies Tamarys Bahamonde told EFE.
Independent experts consulted by EFE agree to start with the collapse of national agricultural and industrial production, which has skyrocketed imports, which account for 80% of what the country consumes, according to the United Nations.
In turn, the main sources of foreign exchange income – tourism, remittances, professional missions (mainly medical), sugar, the biopharmaceutical sector and nickel – have fallen significantly.
This has generated a strong imbalance in the accounts of the State, which exercises the monopoly of foreign trade and other key sectors.
“If there is no production that you can stop importing, we will not get out of this vicious circle,” says Cuban economist Omar Everleny, professor at the University of Havana.
The financial situation is such that in the middle of last year the Government began to decide on budget execution on a regular basis, depending on the actual income of each month.
The Cuban Government underlines the weight of US sanctions and the financial effects of their inclusion in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism for this crisis. The experts, for their part, highlight the internal causes (without denying the damage of the blockade or embargo).
Cuban economist Ricardo Torres, a professor at the American University of Washington (USA), talks about structural imbalances of decades and denounces a bad allocation: “More than a problem of resources, it is a problem of use of money.”
He explains that the Government has financed in the last ten years a “massive construction of hotels” – a sector in the hands of Gaesa, the army’s business consortium – despite very low occupancy rates.
“Seeing the public numbers, I come to the conclusion that it is a country in crisis, without a doubt. But with that I can’t justify that there is not even for wheat,” he says.
The consensus among the experts consulted is that 2025 will be the same or worse than 2024, in which the economy contracted. After five years of serious crisis, Cuban domestic product (GDP) is below 2019 levels.
They do not believe that the measures announced by the Government at the end of 2024, including a deepening of the dollarization of the national economy from the State, will reverse the situation.
Not without controversy, the Government has begun to charge in currency for customs procedures and higher octane gasoline, among others, in addition to converting part of its retail stores into establishments that sell in dollars.
Bahamonde sees in these decisions a copy of those that were taken in the crisis of the 1990s, and that were then reversed.
“It’s a way to raise money. Is it a long-term measure? No, will it guarantee economic development? No, what about growth? Neither. It is purely revenue, rential,” says the economist, who speaks of “subsistence economy.”
Everleny believes that many coordinated and in-depth reforms against the crisis in Cuba would be needed, something he does not perceive after the two severe adjustment packages approved in the last 15 months.
Bahamonde advocates making foreign trade more flexible, establishing a real foreign exchange market, extending participation to the private sector in domestic trade, renouncing the model of centralized administration, and eliminating Gaesa’s control over the Cuban economy, in general, and tourism, in particular.
“All solutions are medium and long-term, but people on the street need solutions today. If drastic, quick measures are not taken,… the time horizon of the resolution is moving away,” he warns.
In Everleny’s opinion, “the state needs long-term aid, like the International Monetary Fund,” because the country has already reached the point of “break”.
However, he himself does not see this option as viable because Cuba does not belong to these international organizations and because he believes that the United States would not approve financing lines for Havana.
International
Uruguay’s Lower House votes to legalize euthanasia amid broad public support
The Uruguayan Lower House voted Wednesday to legalize euthanasia, following the examples of Cuba, Colombia, and Ecuador, marking a significant social shift in a predominantly Catholic region.
The bill to decriminalize assisted death was approved 64-35 in the 99-seat Chamber of Representatives after an emotional night-long debate. The legislation will now move to the Senate, which is expected to pass it into law before the end of the year.
Under the new law, mentally competent adults suffering from terminal or incurable illnesses will be able to request euthanasia.
A key amendment appeared to help convince lawmakers who opposed the original 2022 proposal, requiring that a medical board review a case if the two attending doctors disagree.
Representative Luis Gallo, who opened the debate, recalled patients whose struggles inspired the bill.
“Let us not forget that the request is strictly personal: it respects the patient’s free and individual will, without interference, because it concerns their life, their suffering, and their decision not to continue living,” said Gallo of the center-left governing coalition, Frente Amplio.
Public opinion polls indicate broad support for euthanasia, from President Yamandú Orsi downward. Uruguay has also been a pioneer in legalizing same-sex marriage, abortion, and cannabis use.
International
Trump deploys National Guard as Pentagon plans quick-reaction force for civil disturbances
The Pentagon is considering creating a task force of hundreds of soldiers to be rapidly deployed anywhere in the country in the event of domestic civil unrest, according to The Washington Post, which reviewed Defense Department documents on Tuesday.
The proposed unit, tentatively named the “Rapid Civil Disturbance Response Force,” would consist of 600 soldiers on “constant alert”, capable of responding to incidents within just one hour.
According to the report, the force would be split into two equally sized units: one stationed at a military base in Alabama in the eastern U.S., and the other in Arizona in the west.
Internal documents indicate that if approved, the initiative could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly if troops are kept on 24-hour readiness and transported via military aircraft.
While the National Guard already maintains a rapid response unit, this new military formation would go further, potentially moving soldiers between states whenever necessary.
The plans remain preliminary, with funding potentially starting in fiscal year 2027 at the earliest.
This report emerges just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard for the second time since returning to the White House in January. On Monday, Trump instructed this volunteer force, which supports the Army and Air Force in emergencies, to move to Washington D.C. to combat crime and remove homeless individuals from the streets—a third deployment to the capital.
International
Colombian president Gustavo Petro warns against U.S. military intervention in Venezuela
Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro after the U.S. administration labeled him as the leader of the “Cartel of the Suns” and authorized the Pentagon to use military force against drug cartels, which could lead to an intervention on Venezuelan soil to combat these criminal groups. Petro stated that any military operation without the approval of Colombia or Venezuela would represent an “aggression.”
Petro responded over the weekend following reports on Friday from U.S. media about President Donald Trump’s order to confront designated global terrorist organizations such as the Cartel of the Suns, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Tren de Aragua, including operations on foreign soil. Furthermore, the U.S. State Department increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture from $25 million to $50 million.
“I publicly convey my order given as commander of the Colombian armed forces. Colombia and Venezuela are one people, one flag, one history. Any military operation without the approval of the brother countries is an aggression against Latin America and the Caribbean. It is fundamentally contradictory to our principle of freedom. ‘Freedom or death,’ Bolívar shouted, and the people revolted,” Petro posted on his social media, clearly expressing his disagreement with potential U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on The World Over program on Friday that controlling these terrorist groups is decisive. He added that, for the U.S., these gangs are no longer just local street gangs but well-organized criminal enterprises spreading from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador.
“We cannot continue treating these guys as local street gangs. They have weapons like terrorists, in some cases they have armies. They control territories in many cases. These cartels extend from Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, which is not a legitimate government,” Rubio told the audience.
Uruguay’s Lower House votes to legalize euthanasia amid broad public support
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