Cuban private business owners fear new regulations may force them to shut down

New restrictions on Cuba’s fledgling private sector, which has been flourishing since the government began permitting private enterprise, has rattled many entrepreneurs.

HAVANA — His business was among the first registered in Cuba in 2021 when the communist-run country began allowing private enterprise, banned since 1968.

Now, as the government tightens its grip over the private sector, Gabriel Mosquera Mourlot, 24, fears he may lose the wholesale business he runs, importing items such as pasta, rice, chicken and appliances in a country known for chronic shortages. He then sells them to businesses in the eastern province of Santiago and in the capital, Havana. 

“I don’t think private businesses are going to grow,” Mosquera said at a hotel lobby in Havana. “On the contrary, we are going to ‘de-evolutionize’.” 

A flurry of new restrictions on Cuba’s fledgling private sector, which has been flourishing since the government permitted private enterprise three years ago, has rattled many entrepreneurs. Privately run stores are a lifeline for those who can afford to buy food there. By some estimates, the private sector has surpassed the state as the largest employer.

Many advocates of the private sector, especially in the United States, have seen it as a vehicle for political change in Cuba, something the government staunchly rejects. Then-President Barack Obama made strengthening its private sector a centerpiece of his engagement policy toward the country.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/cuba-private-business-sector-government-restriction-rcna169334

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