On March 16, as Cuba’s aged electricity grid suffered a catastrophic nationwide collapse, Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga announced that Cubans living abroad, in Miami and elsewhere, will be allowed to invest in the island’s private sector and own businesses in the country. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, he said that Cuba “is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies” and “also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.”
Pérez-Oliva’s statements immediately provoked big questions about the implications of his remarks. Recently, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has been the official to report on significant economic and social changes coming in Cuba, so Pérez-Oliva’s appearance was notable, suggesting that leadership shifts may be in the works. Could this be an option for Cuba similar to what was arranged for Venezuela, in which former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was allowed to remain as interim President along with other leading figures of the Nicolás Maduro government?
Pérez-Oliva is the great-nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro, who was only appointed Deputy Prime Minister last year. Although trained as an electrical engineer, he has served as Foreign Trade and Investment Minister since 2024 but has 15 years’ experience working in foreign trade and in the Mariel Special Development Zone, earning him the moniker of “economics czar.” He blamed the U.S.’s 60-plus-years economic blockade for the collapse of the electricity grid, combined with the economic asphyxiation caused by the U.S.-enforced three-month blockade of oil imports. Yet he told NBC News that, with the announced changes, the plan is to now create a “dynamic business environment,” and revive areas such as tourism, mining, and overhauling the energy sector, not just with small investments but big ones, such as in building infrastructure.
