Is the Castro family lock a given? Who is in the wings that could lead the country out of communism?
You speak as though “prosperity” is a good thing. Cuba seems to be doing fairly well as it is – I mean, look at what “prosperity” has done for the USA: it is not pretty, for large segments of the country; a few persons do astoundingly well, most people more or less get by, and for a non-small fraction it really sucks.
And, Raúl Castro is no longer leading the country. It is now in the hands of one Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born after the revolution.
Communism will end in Cuba when a big enough middle class emerges. (There are already private restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts.) We in the U.S. might be able to nudge the country in that direction by offering a negotiated end to the embargo. But that would mean freeing our foreign policy from the old-guard Cuban-American lobby.
Would you say the average Cuban gets along as well as the average guy in your state?
I would believe that the first step in prospering would be to have good relations with the USA, selling cigars, fresh fruit, and, according to my 1st FIL, bananas.
Hard to say, as “gets along” is a pretty murky standard. What does it mean? I have lots of nice shit, but it seems like I have even more shit shit.
I think a more relevant question might be, “does the average Cuban get along as well as the average guy in other Caribbean nations?”
The numbers of people trying to emigrate would be a good representation of that. Other than Haiti and Cuba, I can’t think of any other Caribbean nations that are in the news for having large numbers of people getting into trouble at sea while trying to reach the US. The Dominical Republic would have been on that list in the past, but I haven’t heard much about Dominicans dying at sea trying to reach Key West, or being sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Ron DeSantis once they do reach Florida, or other things of that sort. The same goes for Jamaicans, Bahamians, Barbadians, and so on.
They do, however, get lost and survive for two weeks on catsup.
For what it’s worth, Mexico and some Central American countries are as much Caribbean nations as Cuba is. And yes, those migrants face dangers on land just as daunting as those found at sea.
Much depends on who you are talking about and how you define prosperity. Cuba may require increased tourism, increased freedom to run a small business, fewer economic sanctions, better access to technology and markets, fewer travel restrictions, more democracy and increasing the number and type of local industries.
Remove the crazy US blockade. But, the catch 22 is that the US apparently will not do that until they get rid of communist rule. So everything goes nowhere. It’s really stupid (stupid politicians, who knew?). People need to loosen up on both sides.
It really depends on what sort of communism we’re talking about. Certainly the form that Lenin and Mao were about were not good, but pure communism, something more like socialism, sounds like one that is more of a collective society vs one that is opposed to democracy, religion, etc.
Look what happened in East Germany, democracy won out w/o a war. But the Cuba blockade is essentially a war on the people just trying to make a living in Cuba. Both sides are foolishly hardheaded.
FWIW the CIA World Fact Book tells us that when it comes to GDP - per capita (PPP) Cuba is doing better than these guys in Central America and the Caribbean:
Anguilla, Dominica, Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras. Nicaragua & Haiti.
Embargo. Not blockade. There hasn’t been a blockade since the missile crisis.
Damn, NBC
wrote that the power is compleyely out in Cuba from a power plant going down - huge bummer!
Some sources in thia report indicate that the power plant going down and a fuel embargo are both important factors. I’ve visited Cuba and thought the people fun to talk with about normal life. A cook also showed me how to make plantains that taste delicious.
Until it figures something else out, tourism is a key way to bring in foreign money. But with a seriously wonky electrical grid, this is going to be a problem.
How many people are going to spend thousands of dollars to visit a police state where there’s not power, especially for their beloved phones?
Obama was working on that- it was called the “Cuban Thaw” but trump reversed most of the gains. But it is an Embargo, only affecting stuff shipped from the USA, not a blockade, blocking other nations trade with Cuba.
Things are really not so great in Cuba- Medical scholars have also linked the embargo to epidemics of specific diseases, including neurological disorders and blindness caused by poor nutrition.[76][78] An article written in 1997 suggests malnutrition and disease resulting from increased food and medicine prices have affected men and the elderly in particular, due to Cuba’s rationing system which gives preferential treatment to women and children.
The funny thing about the pro-Cuban people is that on one hand they promote the idea that Cuba is doing GREAT! and on the other hand condemn the Embargo for making Cuba a hellhoole.
However Obama removed any embargo on food and medicine. The issue there is that Cuba doesnt have much to sell or trade to get the money to buy food. Note that other nations can trade with Cuba, but again, Cuba doesnt have much, it’s economy is in the crapper, just like pretty much any Communist nation (The pseudo communism of China is an exception).
End the US embargo and whichever diehard commie is in charge just has to let the people practice their own form of capitalism. It’s a complicated place, a lot of Cubans are afraid of a US takeover if unlimited investment is allowed, a lot of Cubans hate some other Cubans about something or another (not much different in any country). I think allow minority outside investment in Cuban businesses and a government commitment to honoring ownership of property will make the place take off. Beats me why they keep resisting, or why we aren’t fully engaged with them.
Just like in the US? Unconstrained real property ownership in the US has been decidedly problematic, and is most likely a major contributor to homelessness. The US should go fixing its own problems first, before telling other countries to break things.
Why is the embargo such a big issue? It only cuts trade with the USA, not the other 100+ nations, and now the USA will send food and medicine if paid for.