00:09Welcome back.
00:11Cuba is moving forward with the implementation of the 176 recently approved economic and social reforms.
00:17This package of measures aims to modernize the economic model without abandoning socialism.
00:21Our correspondent Evelyn Leyva has more details.
00:26The 176 economic and social reforms constitute the most far-reaching package of measures in recent years.
00:33They encompass agriculture, industry, services, trade, foreign investment, cooperatives, and self-employment.
00:39They are being implemented in a complex context, marked by the escalation of the economic, commercial, financial, and energy blockade
00:45imposed by the United States.
00:51It is a much better program, much deeper and much more comprehensive.
00:57One that promises modernization in line with the most advanced criteria that can be found in the concepts of socialism.
01:06It is, by no means, a farewell to socialism, but rather, an effort to adapt it based on Cuba's specific
01:14characteristics and challenges,
01:16both internal ones and those related to the high-intensity economic war aimed at suffocating the Cuban people.
01:25The expected impact is not only economic, but also social.
01:28However, the starting point is not easy. Years of low growth, high inflation, and a budget deficit.
01:37These measures come amid a very complex situation for the country,
01:45caused by an escalation in the aggressiveness of the United States government,
01:50which has now imposed an oil rocket and is imposing increasingly more sanctions on Cuban companies and officials.
01:59Let's remember that we have been experiencing high inflation for several years now.
02:04There is also a budget deficit that, although it has been decreasing, still weighs heavily on the country's finances.
02:12These transformations do not start from scratch.
02:15They have an international model, the reform process that China began in 1978.
02:27Just like China, which began a process of economic reform in 1978,
02:34the goal of the Cuban transformations is to continue building socialism while unleashing the development of the productive forces.
02:45China is becoming a very important model for the transformations that will take place in our country.
02:52The 176 reforms are also raising expectations about Cuba's relationship with the United States.
02:59The Cuban government has been clear they are not the result of negotiations.
03:02Those decisions are not related to negotiations.
03:08Cuba remains willing to engage in respectful dialogue on all possible issues within the United States government.
03:14And that willingness is not only expressed, it is historically proven.
03:19With 89% of the 176 reforms underway, Cuba is committed to modernizing its economic model without abandoning its socialist
03:27principles.
03:27It is a process filled with challenges, but one that aims to have a positive impact on the economy and
03:32the lives of Cubans.
03:33Evelyn Leyvi, Javier Campanería, Telesur, La Habana, Cuba.
