Since 1959, when Fidel Castro took power, Cubans on the island have endured in a system defined by scarcity, surveillance and state control. The system is currently under a level of strain probably not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the island lost its main economic lifeline.
Havana’s current invitation to Cuban exiles to invest on the island has been rejected outright by many in the United States, viewing it as a last-ditch move by the government under growing pressure.
Earlier this week, Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, nephew of Fidel and Raul Castro, said on television that Cuban exiles welcome investment on the island.
This is not a new message. Havana has been making similar calls to the diaspora for years, but those calls have had little success in the real world.
The latest move has been met with skepticism among many members of the Cuban diaspora living in the United States interviewed by CNN. This is seen as a predictable move by a government struggling to maintain control rather than a substantive policy shift.
The U.S. detention of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has effectively severed Cuba’s most important oil pipeline, cutting off tens of thousands of barrels a day that once powered the island’s power grid and transportation system, exacerbating a decades-long energy crisis that has left Cubans suffering from chronic power outages.
At the same time, the U.S. government is escalating an aggressive pressure campaign, restricting fuel shipments, warning foreign suppliers, and creating what amounts to a de facto oil blockade to block imports.
This moment highlights the stark reality that the Cuban regime has rarely been more exposed to decisions made in Washington.
For decades, exiles have left their homeland in droves in protest against the communist-run Cuban government, many with “a deep patriotic conscience about why we left,” said Orlando Gutierrez Boronatto, executive director of the Cuban Resistance Congress (ARC), a U.S.-based Cuban opposition group focused on ending communist rule on the island.
“You will find that the overwhelming majority of Cuban entrepreneurs and businessmen have no intention of returning and investing in a system that has not fundamentally changed,” he said.
Gutiérrez Boronato said Cuba could be a “very dangerous place to invest” because it doesn’t have an “independent economy” and everything is controlled by the state.
“This is a country where we don’t have an independent judiciary and we’ve seen time and time again that investors have problems with the state. Investors have no other recourse to appeal,” Gutierrez-Borona said.
Jorge Astorquiza, a Cuban-American chemist by trade and co-owner of a Florida food production company founded in the 1970s, sees Havana’s recent support for entrepreneurs like him as a sign of desperation.
“They’re like fish out of water, flopping around on land in the throes of death,” Astorquiza said. The company’s company, Freyco Products of Tampa, also exports products.
“It knows it’s dying. It knows its days are numbered.”
Astorquiza told CNN that his first reaction was to laugh at what he called the “absurdity” of the offer. For him, this moment is reminiscent of perestroika, the economic reconstruction effort led by Mikhail Gorbachev that aimed to stabilize the Soviet Union but ultimately accelerated its collapse in 1991.
“If you forced me to leave my country, how can you ask me to come back to present you with the fruits of my labor anywhere other than where my business flourished?” he said, “That is outrageous. I will never support investment in Cuba. The only way I will support investment in Cuba is to create a free Cuba outside of the predicament of communism.”
Beyond Cuba’s politics, a Tampa businessman warns that a lack of legal and property rights, regulatory constraints and crumbling infrastructure have forced many foreign investors in Cuba to learn painful lessons over the past few decades.
“There are no rights, no respect, no laws in Cuba,” he said. “If you were investing in another country, you would say, ‘There’s a risk, but it’s calculated.’ In the case of Cuba, the risk is a known loss. You’re completely gifting Cuba money and jobs.”
About 1,100 miles to the northwest in Louisville, Kentucky, Cuban-American Margarita Coro is rejecting any effort to normalize economic relations with Cuba’s communist government. Instead, she argues that pressure on the government should be stepped up.
“Those who choose to do business in Cuba, it’s for the benefit of the Castro family and no one else. Their business ends up being seized by the regime,” she said.
Louisville is home to the largest Cuban population outside of Florida, according to the city’s economic development agency.
Coro immigrated to the United States from Santa Fe, near Havana, about 30 years ago. She worked as a pastry chef in Las Vegas before settling in Louisville and building the family business, opening a Cuban bakery, Sweet Havana, before expanding on her legacy with her daughter’s cafe, Sweet Colada, in 2025.
Despite Cuba’s recent support for asylum seekers, Coro says he has no interest in returning as an investor.
“As long as the Castros are here, there will be no business in Cuba,” she told CNN.
“What people need right now is freedom. I think we are witnessing the end of this dictatorship. If this doesn’t happen now, it will never happen.”
Kolo believes tightening the noose on the economy could help bring about that change. She supports tougher measures, including a complete ban on flights to Cuba and a halt to remittances, which are deeply divisive issues within the Cuban exile community.
Remittances, known as remesas, serve as a vital lifeline for many families on the island, allowing Cubans abroad to send money, food and medicine home. Remittances can be sent through payment service providers or informally by Cubans visiting the island and having cash or goods on hand. Kolo argues that support comes at a cost.
“We understand that we want to help, but while we are helping them, we are feeding the shark with its mouth open,” she said.
Another local favorite, Havana Rumba, was founded more than 20 years ago by Marcos Lorenzo, who moved to Kentucky in 2000. What started as one restaurant has now grown into a four-location staple known for its authentic Cuban cuisine. But when it comes to investing back into the island, Lorenzo says that’s the last thing he wants to do right now.
“I think people who go to invest in Cuba are crazy,” Lorenzo, who grew up in Havana, told CNN. “That’s a terrible idea.”
He said he travels to Havana at least once a year to visit his 91-year-old mother, who relies on the necessities he brings such as food, medicine, clothing and money to survive.
Lorenzo, who last visited Cuba in early February, said conditions on the island were the worst he had ever seen, with hours-long power outages, piles of trash and lack of essential goods. He said Havana’s infrastructure was “fragile” and unpredictable, adding that daily life had become a matter of survival for most Cubans.
“Why go there if you have no rights or freedoms?” Lorenzo asked. For him, reconsidering would require “big changes.”
He told CNN he supports more aggressive U.S. action, including military intervention, to weaken Cuba’s government, which he argued could create the conditions for Cubans on the island to regain freedom.
Economic sanctions introduced by the United States decades ago already block most commercial activity on the island involving Americans and create significant legal barriers to new investment.
“Whenever you get a sentence like this, it’s clear that you have to tango together,” Jordi Martínez-Cid, president of the Cuban American Bar Association, told CNN.
“It has to be legal on the Cuban side, it has to be legal on the U.S. side,” he said. Martinez-Cid points out that the biggest hurdle for Cuban-Americans looking to invest is the Helms Encumbrance Act. A 1996 law signed by then-President Bill Clinton codified the embargo and strengthened sanctions against the island. That means only Congress can lift it or significantly change it.
He pointed out that the law sets out clear conditions for normalization, including the unconditional release of political prisoners, the legalization of political parties, and a commitment to free and fair democratic elections.
“Cuba conducts business transactions through many other countries, and there are many companies that do business in Cuba, but they do not have the same legal and regulatory framework as we do,” Martinez-Cid said.
Even if Havana introduced reforms specifically aimed at attracting U.S.-based investors, major legal hurdles would remain on the U.S. side, he said.
Still, Martinez-Cid acknowledged the underlying appeal.
“This is in many ways a natural market for the United States, and we’re only 90 miles off the coast. It’s an untapped market in many ways. So what (some) people see as a challenge, others will see as an opportunity for growth,” he said.
Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report from Havana, Cuba.
