HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday announced a package of economic reforms aimed at attracting investment, expanding participation by Cubans living abroad in the economy and decentralizing parts of the country’s administration.
The president did not provide details about the measures or a timetable for their implementation but said during remarks to state media that it is now “time to change” and that the country “simply cannot continue on its current course.”
“Every opportunity in the midst of a crisis must be seized as a moment for takeoff, as a moment for growth,” Díaz-Canel said, according to a statement from the presidency that was republished by state-run media. “We have established a group of priorities to confront this situation,” he added without offering specifics.
The announcement comes as Cubans have struggled with fuel shortages as a result of the U.S. oil blockade and food insecurity. In January, the United States tightened restrictions on Cuba’s oil supplies in an effort to pressure the island’s government to change its political and economic model, exacerbating challenges that have persisted for about five years.
The U.S. State Department had no comment on the Díaz-Canel remarks and referred to the statement released Thursday on the latest sanctions.
Díaz-Canel said officials are evaluating measures related to foreign trade, exports, supply chains and logistics. Without elaborating, he suggested the government could eliminate mandatory state intermediaries in import and export operations and grant tariff benefits to those who bring raw materials into the country for production.
“The numbers don’t add up, and the government wants to make this look like a matter of will rather than a math problem,” Cuban economist Pedro Monreal wrote on X, in response to Díaz-Canel’s proposals.
The Spain-based former UNESCO official went on to criticize the collapse of a centralized planning model, for which he said “there are two respectable alternatives: assume the political price of failure, or self-critically rectify and drastically transform the model.”
For decades, Cuba maintained a centralized, vertical system under strict state control. This structure began to shift gradually over the last decade when the government introduced permits for independent workers. More recently, the state authorized the operation of the country’s first small- and medium-sized private enterprises.
Earlier Friday, a ship carrying nearly 100 tons of food and essential goods arrived from Colombia as part of the humanitarian aid that several countries have sent to Cuba in recent months as a U.S. energy embargo persists.
The ship, which departed Cartagena in early June, crossed the Havana Bay channel early in the morning flying the Colombian flag and escorted by a small Cuban auxiliary vessel, The Associated Press confirmed.
The Colombian Presidential Agency for International Cooperation said that, on orders of President Gustavo Petro, the shipment included nonperishable food, medicine, hospital supplies, electrical materials, solar panels and other items.
The ship also carried seven tons of goods collected by solidarity groups.
Last weekend, another ship carrying 1,700 tons of essential goods from Mexico and Belize arrived in Havana.
In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The move has deepened a preexisting crisis caused by U.S. sanctions. Washington is pressing the Cuban government to release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Cuba produces only 40% of its oil, leaving the island semiparalyzed and subjected to severe power outages.
AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A fisherman prepares his fishing rod in front of the Colombian Navy ship ARC Caribe, docked at a pier in Havana, Cuba, after arriving with humanitarian aid, Friday, June 12, 2926. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Ukrainian drones struck two sprawling warehouses, one of them just east of Moscow, as part of attacks overnight and on Saturday afternoon that killed nine people and wounded more than 80, Russian officials said.
Kyiv's forces have pressed their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.
Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials — one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Moscow.
A Ukrainian drone also hit an oil depot in the city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, sparking a fire and prompting evacuations of a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov. Drone debris also hit a kindergarten building, Vorobyov said, sparking a fire that has since been put out.
Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov said.
A total of 61 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said: 20 sought outpatient care, while 40 others were hospitalized. One person died of their injuries, he said.
One more person was killed and another wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region on Saturday afternoon, according to local authorities.
Both warehouses caught fire, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said, and the blaze in Kotovsk was put out. Images and footage released by Russian online outlets showed a fire raging at the Elektrostal facility, with massive plumes of smoke towering over it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions.”
“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.
In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir Gov. Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.
Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement on Saturday that the fuel depot in Noginsk that was targeted overnight supplied the Russian armed forces. It also reported hitting two tankers, two floating cranes and a tugboat in the Black and Azov seas, saying the vessels were used to transport oil, fuel and military cargo.
Separately, the military said it struck a Project 10410 Svetlyak-class patrol ship in Kerch, describing it as the second vessel of that class hit in two days, as well as a railway bridge over the Bila River near Sabivka in the occupied Luhansk region that it said Russia uses for military logistics.
Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo, released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's official telegram channel, shows a building damaged during a Ukrainian drone attack in Elektrostal, Moscow region of Russia, on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's official telegram channel via AP) CORRECTION: Corrects Moscow Regoin Governor surname to Vorobyov
This photo, released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel, shows a building damaged during a Ukrainian drone attack in Elektrostal, Moscow region of Russia, on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev's official telegram channel via AP)
