By Pastor Herrera Macurán
Horizonte Cubano News
August 23, 2026
President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said something with which many of us can agree:
The Cuban people are suffering.
In his recent interview with Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo, the Cuban president described an extraordinarily difficult reality: prolonged blackouts, shortages of medicines, transportation problems, lack of fuel and growing difficulties affecting virtually every aspect of daily life.
On this point, Mr. President, we do not need an ideological argument.
The suffering is real.
Where we need a much more serious conversation is over why it exists — and what both Havana and Washington are prepared to do about it.
Because after more than sixty years, blaming only the other side is no longer sufficient.
Washington Bears Responsibility for Washington’s Policies
Let us begin with something that parts of the Cuban-American political establishment sometimes appear reluctant to acknowledge.
American sanctions have consequences.
When financial transactions become more difficult, there are consequences.
When shipping becomes more complicated or expensive, there are consequences.
When energy supplies are restricted, there are consequences.
When companies fear doing business with Cuba because of American sanctions or possible secondary consequences, there are consequences.
Those effects do not remain confined to an office of the Cuban government.
Eventually they travel through the economy.
And somewhere at the end of that economic chain is an ordinary Cuban.
A mother.
A pensioner.
A worker.
A child.
A small entrepreneur.
Recognizing this does not require defending the Cuban government.
It requires recognizing reality.
But Havana Must Accept Responsibility Too
President Díaz-Canel cannot place sixty years of Cuban economic problems entirely at Washington’s door.
American sanctions did not create every inefficient Cuban enterprise.
They did not create every bureaucratic obstacle.
They did not make every agricultural decision.
They did not establish every restriction on private enterprise.
They did not determine every monetary policy.
They did not create every internal barrier confronting Cuban entrepreneurs.
The Cuban government itself now acknowledges the need for significant economic changes and has recently expanded opportunities for private enterprise and investment.
That is important.
But it also raises an obvious question:
If reforms are necessary today, why were so many of them delayed for so long?
Washington should answer for Washington.
Havana should answer for Havana.
The Cuban people should not be required to choose which government’s mistakes they are permitted to criticize.
Now Let Us Discuss the Debt History Created
There is another subject both countries have avoided resolving for far too long.
The properties confiscated after the Cuban Revolution.
This is not merely political rhetoric.
The United States Foreign Claims Settlement Commission completed a formal claims process involving properties and other assets taken by the Cuban government.
Thousands of claims were certified.
Those claims did not disappear because decades passed.
And they will not disappear because Washington and Havana prefer arguing about other subjects.
They represent an unresolved financial dispute between our countries.
It is time to negotiate it.
Compensation Must Finally Enter the Conversation
For decades, American policy has treated confiscated property as part of the historical justification for confrontation with Cuba.
Fine.
Then let us resolve the issue.
Sit down.
Identify the certified claims.
Determine the legally recognized amounts.
Distinguish among different categories of claims.
Negotiate interest.
Examine possible settlement mechanisms.
Establish a timetable.
And create a structure through which legitimate creditors can finally receive compensation.
That is what negotiations are for.
Repeating for another sixty years that Cuba confiscated American property will not compensate a single claimant.
A settlement might.
Cuba Cannot Pay Without an Economy Capable of Paying
Here is where American policy encounters an obvious contradiction.
If Cuba owes money, Cuba needs the economic capacity to pay it.
A country experiencing severe shortages, limited access to international finance, deteriorated infrastructure, restricted trade and chronic economic crisis is not in an ideal position to settle billions of dollars in historical claims.
So Washington must decide what it actually wants.
Does it want the claims to remain permanent symbols of political confrontation?
Or does it want creditors eventually to receive money?
If the objective is compensation, then economic normalization must become part of the discussion.
A Cuba capable of producing, trading, attracting legitimate investment and generating revenue is a Cuba more capable of paying its debts.
That should be obvious.
Put Everything on the Negotiating Table
Imagine a serious negotiation between Washington and Havana.
Not another symbolic meeting.
A negotiation with measurable objectives.
Certified property claims.
Other legitimate outstanding claims between both governments.
Economic sanctions.
Banking restrictions.
Commercial relations.
Investment protections.
Private enterprise.
Migration.
Human rights.
Political prisoners.
Security concerns.
Energy.
Transportation.
Agriculture.
And the gradual normalization of economic relations.
Nothing should be automatically surrendered.
Everything should be negotiable.
The United States should demand concessions.
Cuba should demand concessions.
That is diplomacy.
Create a Claims Settlement Fund
One possibility deserves serious examination.
A future agreement could establish a dedicated Cuba-U.S. Claims Settlement Fund.
Payments could potentially come from several negotiated sources over time rather than requiring Cuba to produce an impossible lump-sum payment.
For example, subject to law and negotiation, funding mechanisms could be connected to future commercial activity, agreed government payments, privatization or investment transactions, or other revenue streams acceptable to both governments.
The details would require economists, lawyers, claimants, both governments and ultimately Congress where legislation is necessary.
But the principle matters.
Turn an unresolved historical grievance into a payable financial obligation.
Creditors do not benefit from eternal confrontation.
They benefit from getting paid.
The Embargo Must Be Part of That Negotiation
This is where American politics must become realistic.
If Cuba enters into a credible, enforceable agreement to compensate legitimate claims and undertakes meaningful economic reforms, the United States should be prepared to discuss corresponding steps toward dismantling the embargo and broader sanctions architecture.
Some restrictions can be addressed through executive authority.
Others are embedded in federal law and would require congressional action.
Then Congress should debate them.
The objective should be a negotiated sequence.
Cuba takes a measurable step.
The United States takes a measurable step.
Cuba complies with another obligation.
Washington removes another restriction where legally possible.
Verification follows.
Progress produces progress.
Failure produces consequences.
That is more rational than demanding unconditional surrender from either side.
Waiting for an Invasion Is Not a Financial Strategy
There are people who continue imagining that someday the United States will invade Cuba, the existing government will disappear and all these historical problems will somehow be resolved afterward.
That is not a serious strategy.
There is no reason today to assume an American invasion of Cuba is imminent.
And building economic policy around waiting for one would be irresponsible.
What happens if there is no invasion in five years?
Ten years?
Twenty?
Do the claimants simply continue waiting?
Do their children inherit certificates representing disputes that neither government ever seriously attempted to settle?
Eventually realism must replace fantasy.
An invasion is not a debt-collection mechanism.
Negotiation is.
Mr. Díaz-Canel, This Requires Something From Cuba Too
If Havana wants Washington to reconsider sanctions, Cuba must be prepared to discuss the issues Washington cannot simply pretend never happened.
Confiscated property is one of them.
Political and human-rights concerns are another.
Economic transparency matters.
Investment protections matter.
The ability of businesses to operate under predictable rules matters.
Foreign investors will not commit enormous amounts of capital to Cuba if they believe today’s investment can become tomorrow’s confiscation.
Resolving historical claims would therefore accomplish something larger than compensating old creditors.
It could help establish credibility for future investment.
Cuba needs that credibility.
And Washington Must Decide Whether It Wants Results
American policymakers face their own choice.
If the objective is permanent confrontation, continue doing what we have done.
More sanctions.
More speeches.
More accusations.
More waiting.
But if the objective is producing measurable results, then negotiation should not be treated as surrender.
Imagine what success could eventually look like:
American claimants receiving compensation.
Cuban private businesses gaining greater access to capital and markets.
American companies entering lawful commercial opportunities.
Cuban families experiencing greater economic opportunity.
Migration pressure declining because more Cubans can imagine a future at home.
Washington maintaining leverage through enforceable agreements rather than permanent isolation.
And Havana accepting that access to greater economic normalization carries obligations.
That would not solve every disagreement between our countries.
It would solve something.
After sixty years, that would already be progress.
Let Us Begin With the Truth
President Díaz-Canel is correct about one thing.
Cubans are suffering.
Now comes the harder part.
Washington must acknowledge where American policy contributes to that suffering.
Havana must acknowledge where its own policies created or intensified it.
And both governments must stop treating unresolved historical disputes as political museum pieces.
The confiscation claims should be negotiated.
Legitimate creditors should be compensated.
Cuba should implement serious reforms.
The United States should be prepared to dismantle sanctions and, with Congress where necessary, move toward ending the embargo as verifiable agreements are fulfilled.
Neither government will obtain everything it wants.
That is precisely why negotiations exist.
The alternative is another generation of sanctions, shortages, migration, political speeches and unpaid claims.
And eventually we must ask:
Who benefits from that?
Certainly not the Cuban people.
And certainly not creditors who have spent more than six decades waiting to be paid.
Mr. Díaz-Canel, we agree that Cubans are suffering.
Now let us finally have the harder conversation about why — and about what both governments are prepared to change.
Pastor Herrera Macurán is the founder of Horizonte Cubano News. The views expressed in this article are those of the author.