The US will unveil regulatory changes aimed at bolstering the entrepreneurial sector on the communist-run island as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition they not be named ahead of the announcement.
The moves — which will likely give Cuban entrepreneurs access to the US banking system — “will hopefully make life easier for the Mipymes,” said Miami-based lawyer Pedro Freyre, using the Spanish acronym for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. But helping entrepreneurs is “something that has bipartisan support, because Republicans of course are on board with anything that boosts private industry and private enterprise in Cuba,” according to Freyre, a Democrat who was active in policy discussions during President Barack Obama’s attempted detente with Cuba.
Diaz-Canel’s government wants the US to remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. But the regime’s crackdown on protesters in 2021, plus accusations — which Havana denies — that it helped send Cubans to fight for Russia in Ukraine, leave Cuba with little leverage and few friends in Washington.