HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba’s communist model needs “urgent changes” to overcome a major crisis which cannot be solely blamed on a crippling United States (US) oil blockade, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in his frankest admission yet of the need for radical reforms.

“The situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,” Diaz-Canel told the Communist Party party’s politburo in remarks broadcast on Thursday,

Diaz-Canel was speaking at a meeting called to fast-track reforms aimed at boosting the private sector and attracting more capital from millions of Cubans who have fled the crisis abroad.