Trump’s iron grip on Cuba sees a bizarre new reform proposed, but what he demands in return is much more shocking

Cuba is making a significant move, announcing that Cuban nationals living abroad will soon be allowed to directly invest in their homeland and even own businesses on the island, as reported by Al Jazeera. This is a pretty wild pro-market reform, especially considering it lines up quite neatly with what President Trump has been saying recently about any deal needing to be great for the Cuban-American community in Florida.

This development comes as Cuba faces some truly challenging times, particularly with its energy infrastructure. While the traffic lights are finally back on in Havana, most of the country is still in the dark. The national power grid collapsed yet again, leaving the entire country without electricity. Power is slowly coming back online in the capital, but large parts of the island remain without any supply.

Power cuts started becoming a problem in Cuba back in 2019, when the first Trump administration began hammering the country with what it called “maximum-pressure sanctions.” Those sanctions were designed to gouge billions of dollars a year out of Cuba’s economy. As a result, the communist government had to drastically cut its fuel imports because it simply didn’t have the cash to pay for them.

Since late January, the Trump administration has imposed a total oil blockade on Cuba

That means for almost three months now, no oil has been able to come into the country. Unsurprisingly, for a nation heavily dependent on oil to generate its electricity, this has meant that power cuts are becoming much more frequent and lasting longer.

Amidst these escalating pressures, both the Cuban and US governments, who have been old foes for so long, have confirmed they are again locking horns and negotiating. It’s clear the current situation is pushing Cuba toward some significant changes. On Monday, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga made the big announcement about allowing Cubans living abroad, including those in places like Miami, Florida, to invest directly and own businesses back home.

While the full details of these negotiations aren’t public, they seem to be focused largely on economic reforms. It’s a pretty clear indicator that the US oil blockade is driving living standards incredibly low right now.

Most people on the island are very much in favor of some sort of agreement, which makes perfect sense given the daily struggles they face without reliable power.