Mar 17, 2026
3 min read
As Donald Trump steps up pressure on Cuba's communist government and threatens an American "takeover" of the island, he often repeats his main promise: that decades after his departure, Cuban exiles will soon be able to return to their homeland.
As Donald Trump ratchets up pressure on Cuba's communist government and threatens a U.S. annexation of the island, he has often repeated a central promise: Cubans exiled in Cuba will soon return to their homeland.
“A lot of great people will go back to Cuba, hopefully they won't stay,” Mr. Trump said at a recent event at the White House attended by important members of the Cuban-American community."We don't want to create favorable conditions for them to stay. But some people may want to stay. They love Cuba very much," he said.
Trump's announcement moved many members of the Cuban diaspora, who have vowed not to return to the island as long as Castro remains in power.In recent years, this is at odds with the reality that more and more Cubans are returning to see family, vacations, and even small businesses supported by local partners.
Invitations to Cuban exiles to do business in their country have been repeated by Havana over the years, but so far have yielded few tangible results.
But on Monday evening, Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, who is also the grandson of Fidel and Raúl Castro, said Cuban exiles were happy to invest in the island.
According to Mr. Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Cuban immigrants can open businesses on the island for the first time, invest in large infrastructure projects and maintain bank accounts in state banks.
The agreement will do little to satisfy those in the Cuban-American community who advocate for greater political freedom, full opening of the economy and the return of property confiscated from immigrants.
The exiles sought radical reform
US economic sanctions block most commercial activity with the island.Many Cuban expats say Havana's strict restrictions on foreign investment severely limit business opportunities and that the glacial pace of Cuba's communist bureaucracy means routine transactions take years.
Major reforms to the island's economic and legal system are needed before many companies consider returning to rebuild their country, said Pedro Frey, a Cuban-American who advises American companies on doing business in Cuba.
The island has reached "this moment where the emperor is naked. We're ready here. You know, this thing fell apart, it's broken, but we have a great opportunity to rebuild and we're going to do it," Freyre told CNN."If there's one thing we know how to do as Cuban Americans, it's build cities first," he said.
"I've dealt with the Cuban government before. There are intelligent people, very prepared people, very educated, who understand what's going on and who have a built-in incentive," Fryer said."They have seen the destruction and collapse of the country over the past 60 years, and now the door is open," he said.
The Cuban government is under more pressure to reform its stagnant economy than it has been since the fall of the Berlin Wall.After the United States' attack on Venezuela in January and the Trump administration's threat to impose tariffs on Mexico, imports of fuel from abroad have been reduced.
Blackouts spark protests
Blackouts now last most of the day in many Cuban cities, tourism is down and some foreign companies have begun withdrawing their staff from the island amid worsening conditions.
Tired of constant power outages, Cubans are increasingly taking to the streets to bang pots and pans and demand that the government turn the power back on.
Cuba's power grid collapsed on Monday, throwing ten million people into darkness.Officials said they were working to restore supplies, but there was no timeline for how long it would take.
It remains to be seen whether Trump's claims that the Cuban government is on the brink of collapse and ready to make a deal will lead to a historic economic and political opening on the island, which some are calling the "Cuban Construction," referring to the weakening of Soviet power in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s.
El viernes, por primera vez, el presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reconoció que su gobierno había entablado conversaciones con la administración Trump, después de semanas diciendo que no negociarían mientras eran amenazados por Estados Unidos.
But some Cuban officials are already warning that the government is unlikely to make the key concessions the Trump administration has demanded.
Speaking, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla wrote
Both the New York Times and the Miami Herald have reported that the Trump administration sees Diaz-Canel as an obstacle to change and is trying to oust the Cuban president in talks with relatives of former leader Raul Castro.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said the island's future was at risk.
"To take Cuba, it's a great honor," he said.
Even some Cuban-Americans who have already invested in the island say the government needs to make greater economic and political reforms to transform their homeland.
A risky business
"People doing business in Cuba are taking a huge risk and they should be recognized for that," Cuban-American investor Hugo Cancio told CNN.Cancio left the island as a child during the Mariel exodus and now owns businesses that export food and cars to the island, which is allowed under US law.
"The private sector in Cuba has grown over the last three to four years," he said."But it means going through obstacles and hurdles and changing and reversing decisions."
Returning Cuban Americans aren't the only lifeblood of the island's economy, Cancio said.
"Respect our differences, respect our beliefs, we're not always going to agree on political issues, okay? But if it's respected, I think it's a start, it's a good start," he said.
Some Cubans, like political differences, mean that they cannot return to their country.
Freelance journalist Alejandro González Raya was imprisoned as part of the Cuban government's notorious crackdown on dissidents known as the "Black Spring" in 2003.
Gonzalez told CNN that he was exiled from prison to Spain and that the Havana government would not allow him to return to the island, like other dissidents, as well as doctors and athletes who have gone on government-sponsored trips abroad.
“Es algo que deseamos”, dijo González sobre la promesa de Trump a los exiliados de que podrán regresar a la isla. “Y que ocurra sin trauma social porque las familias cubanas ya han sufrido demasiado”, dijo.
