Havana/Decades of neglect have left Cuba with an obsolete and deeply decaying infrastructure. Rebuilding it will be the main challenge that a future democratic transition would face, according to experts gathered at the forum. Reconstruction of Cuba’s infrastructure as part of the transition to democracy, celebrated on July 22 at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, in Miami.
Cuban-American academics, businessmen, engineers and architects analyzed a hierarchy of emergencies – electricity, water, sanitation, transportation and connectivity – and proposed recovery strategies that, above all, will depend on the creation of a legal framework capable of attracting private investment and facilitating the participation of the diaspora. This was especially emphasized by economist Rafael Romeu, president of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy.
Romeu proposed a first stage of humanitarian aid aimed at supporting basic services and immediately responding to the urgency of the social situation: the deterioration of the electrical network, the water supply and the health system. The analyst recalled that Cuba does not have immediate access to help from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, from which it withdrew in 1964. “Waiting for international organizations could lead to chaos and suffering for the Cuban population, which would have to face a worsening of hyperinflation and dollarization in the black market and the collapse of essential services.”
“Waiting for international organizations could lead to chaos and suffering for the Cuban population”
Romeu insisted that the recovery will depend on a combination of public and private resources, with private investment as the main driver. Among his stabilization measures is the dollarization of the economy, a proposal that for him would contain inflation and dismantle the distortion that today feeds the informal market.
The reconstruction of Cuba, in any case, would cost billions of dollars, and that would be when “the venture capital guys would come in to play their role,” according to Romeu, who also pointed out tourism as one of the activities with the greatest potential to attract capital. The economist estimated that an open Cuba with adequate infrastructure could receive between seven and 10 million visitors a year.
For his part, Jorge Piñón, researcher at the Austin Energy Institute of the University of Texas, addressed his specialty. “Without energy there is no country,” he stated. For him, the immediate priority is to ensure a reliable and clean supply, essential both for daily life and for the arrival of investments.
As he already told 14ymedio in interviewPiñón is committed to expanding the use of natural gas, which Cuba already extracts in Canasí and Puerto Escondido, and complementing it with solar energy and ethanol produced from sugar cane. Their proposal is to gradually abandon crude oil refining and transform existing refineries into open access fuel storage and distribution terminals. According to the expert, this reconversion would avoid the high costs of modernizing aging facilities, reduce pollution and facilitate competition between suppliers.
The expert explained that although Cuba has 59 treatment plants, many barely function or do so with low performance.
Engineer José Enrique Cueto, former director of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department, spoke about the water crisis that also affects the Island. The expert explained that although Cuba has 59 treatment plants, many barely function or do so with low performance due to the lack of adequate chemicals, equipment, pumps and filters. The use of chlorine gas as the main disinfectant, he warned, adds risks due to its toxicity. Added to this is an insufficient sewage network, which forces a large part of the population to depend on septic tanks.
Cueto proposed starting by restoring pumping, drinking water treatment and pipelines, prioritizing hospitals, densely populated cities and vulnerable communities. He estimated two to five years for basic rehabilitation, up to ten for modernization and more than a decade to expand wastewater infrastructure, industrial capacity and agricultural supply. It is not, therefore, a quick repair, but a long-term national program.
Transportation in Cuba has also suffered severe deterioration for decades. Carlos Peñín, founder of CAP Government and former president of the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, stated that 70% of Cuban roads are in poor condition. The Central Highway and the National Highway – unfinished for decades – reflect the abandonment of a network where fatal accidents are frequent and vehicles, carts and pedestrians coexist without minimum safety conditions. According to Peñín, there is potential for the development of transportation on the Island, but a large investment would have to be made for it to have an economic impact.
Regarding port infrastructure, experts recalled that Cuba has 30 ports, including Mariel, but they warned that many need comprehensive modernization. Even so, they highlighted the potential to recover cruise tourism and take advantage of the reconstruction of the transportation system to incorporate the most advanced technologies from the beginning.
Lebeña stated that the transition to a modern telecommunications network, including 5G technology, could be completed in less than three years
Willy Bermello, president of Bermello Ajamil & Partners, estimated that modernizing Cuban airports and bringing them to international standards would require between 8,000 and 10,000 million dollars in 15 years.
Jesús Lebeña, vice president of corporate operations at MasTec Communications Group, addressed the topic of telecommunications. In his opinion, a Cuba in transition should guarantee access for the entire population to voice, messaging and data services with unrestricted international connection.
Lebeña affirmed that the transition to a modern telecommunications network, including 5G technology, could be completed in less than three years if Cuba connects through fiber optic cables with the United States and other countries and opens the sector to competitive bidding between international companies. According to him, this would make services cheaper for consumers and allow the entry of satellite internet platforms such as Starlink, currently prohibited on the Island. In this scenario, Cuba could even aspire to become a regional data center.
To conclude, Marcell Felipe, president of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, maintained that the talent and capital of exile exist, but their participation will depend on a change of Government in Cuba and the creation of rules that guarantee economic freedom, competition and legal security. According to the specialists gathered at the forum, post-Castro Cuba will inherit a devastated infrastructure and an exhausted population. The question will no longer be whether the country will need help, but rather which institutions will be prepared to administer it without repeating the monopolies, improvisation and opacity that led to the current crisis.
