Cuba moved to privatize swaths of its state-run economy as it looked to boost moribund growth and assuage the US, which has repeatedly threatened to replace the island’s communist leadership.

The measures mark the single biggest change to the country’s economic system since Fidel Castro took over after the 1950s revolution, Reuters reported.

However, skepticism abounded over whether the reforms would be fully implemented, and Washington could still ramp up its pressure campaign on the Caribbean nation — part of the Trump administration’s moves to reassert US dominance over the Western hemisphere — as the Iran conflict winds down. “Their backs are up against the wall as never before,” one University of Miami expert told AFP.