An evergreen, plain-English operating manual for foreign investors in Havana: legal structures, approvals, banking, hiring, FX realities, etiquette, and sanctions compliance.
Evergreen guides
Cuba Investor Explainers
Plain-English answers to the questions investors and journalists most often Google about Cuba's sanctions framework — the CACR, Helms-Burton, the Cuban peso (CUP), MLC, the elTOQUE TRMI informal rate, and how to actually do business in Havana under §515.574 "Support for the Cuban People."
Learn how an empresa mixta (Cuban joint venture) is structured under Ley 118: approvals, shareholding, governance, labor hiring, FX and repatriation, and sanctions compliance.
Learn what Cuba’s Tarea Ordenamiento did in January 2021, how CUP/CUC unification worked, why inflation and shortages surged, and what it means for pricing, payroll and investors.
Learn what MLC (Moneda Libremente Convertible) is in Cuba, how MLC stores and cards work, how it relates to CUP and USD, and why repatriation and sanctions risks matter.
Learn what the Banco Central de Cuba (BCC) is, what it controls, how Cuba’s official exchange rate differs from market pricing, and why it matters for foreign investors.
Understand the Cuba Restricted List, how it interacts with OFAC’s Cuba sanctions rules (including §515.209), and what GAESA, CIMEX, and Gaviota mean for compliance and deals.
Helms-Burton (LIBERTAD) Act Title III lets eligible U.S. claimants sue over “trafficking” in property confiscated by Cuba after 1959. Learn triggers, defenses, and investor due diligence.
A plain-English explainer of OFAC sanctions on Cuba: the CACR (31 CFR 515), what U.S. persons can and can’t do, how general licenses work, key lists, and practical compliance tips.