{"text":[[{"start":9,"text":"Cuba has promised “urgent” reforms to the way it runs its economy during an escalating social crisis and increasing pressure from the US, including the threat of potential military intervention. "}],[{"start":19.8,"text":"The new package of measures to boost the private sector and encourage foreign investment could — if implemented — represent the biggest shake-up in the country’s economic model since the early years of the revolution in the 1960s."}],[{"start":34.95,"text":"The reforms, which were unanimously passed by Cuba’s rubber-stamp parliament, include opening the door to private real estate development, allowing private banks to operate and the sale of stakes in state-owned companies to private investors, including foreigners. "}],[{"start":50.25,"text":"“To the Cuban living abroad who wants to invest, donate, import technology, open a market, or build a project in his homeland, we will offer a clear, stable and respectful framework,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a televised address on Thursday. "}],[{"start":65.4,"text":"Cuba has been facing intense economic and political pressure from the Trump administration, which has been pushing the island to open its economy and to release political prisoners. Since the start of the year, the US has all but blocked imports of energy to Cuba and has implemented tough new sanctions on critical areas of the economy. "}],[{"start":82.65,"text":"But Díaz-Canel upended decades of rhetoric from the Cuban leadership by admitting that the country’s economic problems were not all caused by US sanctions."}],[{"start":92.45,"text":"In remarks to the Communist Party’s central committee, Díaz-Canel put some of the blame on “obstacles that don’t come from outside, nor the blockade”, though he also talked about “barbaric punishment” from Washington. "}],[{"start":105.85000000000001,"text":"Citing economic reforms pursued by the Communist parties in China and Vietnam, he warned about “decisions that we have put off” and blamed “slowness, bureaucracy and norms that impede those who want to produce”."}],[{"start":118.45,"text":"“The situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,” he said."}],[{"start":122.55,"text":"Over the past month, the US has also made veiled threats about potential military action against Cuba if it did not introduce sweeping reforms. During a visit last week to the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, defence secretary Pete Hegseth warned Cuba not to seek missiles or other weapons that might be able to reach the US. "}],[{"start":141.55,"text":"“They would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only they do not want, but they could not stand,” said Hegseth.In response to the new measures, a State Department spokesperson said: “These gradual ‘economic reforms’ are modest, long overdue and ultimately superficial smoke signals from the Cuban regime. This is part of the dictatorship’s handbook: announce a cycle of supposed reforms to insinuate a desire for change, then quickly roll back any changes the moment the regime’s total control is at all threatened.”"}],[{"start":172.75,"text":"The US pressure has deepened an economic crisis that took hold when the Covid pandemic devastated the island’s tourism industry. In many parts of the country, residents are receiving only a few hours of power per day in their homes, and hospitals and schools have been severely affected. Diplomats in the country have warned about a potentially profound social breakdown. "}],[{"start":193.25,"text":"Cuba experts caution that the Communist regime has promised in the past to open up its economy — but has never followed through. During the Obama administration when Raúl Castro was Cuba’s president, Washington and Havana negotiated a rapprochement that included a major opening for foreign investment. "}],[{"start":211.9,"text":"However, US officials who were involved in the initiative say Fidel Castro, who was then still alive, worked behind the scenes to block the economic opening. The US officials said many Cuban leaders feared that economic reforms would lead them to lose political control. "}],[{"start":228.25,"text":"Díaz-Canel succeeded Raúl Castro as president in 2019 and at the time was seen as a potential reformer who was less ideological than most of his peers. However, analysts say he has lacked the political influence to push through anything but cosmetic changes. "}],[{"start":244.6,"text":"Díaz-Canel acknowledged that some of the proposed reforms “will not have absolute consensus, but cannot be postponed”."}],[{"start":260.95,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782091763_7178.mp3"}