Cuba's Communist Party Approves Deepest Market Reforms in Decades

Cuba's Communist Party formally approved sweeping economic reforms on June 17, allowing companies to set wages autonomously, retain profits with fewer restrictions, and conduct direct international trade. State enterprises now retain portions of foreign currency earnings instead of channeling all revenues through central state control—addressing the hard-currency shortages that have constrained fuel, food, and medicine supplies. The measures represent the party's most significant structural liberalization since the 1990s.