Cubans have decided that enough is enough and have taken to the streets to express their frustration with their government, despite the risk of lengthy prison sentences for voicing dissent. These protests stem from the failing Cuban economy and government mismanagement. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has seen high inflation, a shortage of essential goods like food and medicine, and electric power outages. The Cuban president has responded with food distribution and requests for international aid. However, he has also publicly minimized the political unrest saying that it is “the enemies of the revolution that want to destabilize the country.” He further states that these enemies are terrorists based in the United States who want to “sow chaos.” 

A report titled Why the Situation in Cuba Is Deteriorating authored by the Council on Foreign Affairs points out that the Cuban economy has been stagnating for generations under its centrally planned economy, and that the recent shock is a consequence of a poorly planned economy, increased United States sanctions, and former allies ending economic programs due to conservative leadership being elected. The global pandemic also severely affected the economy by shutting down tourism and revealed the weaknesses in the medical system. Then hurricane Ian struck, causing prolonged power outages and sparking protests that the state suppressed. 

As the report points out, Cuba’s planned economy is to blame along with a repressive dictatorship that is not allowing reforms to private enterprise. Introducing market reforms as suggested are necessary, however, markets need governments with institutions that properly regulate economic actors to ensure a common good. It is not sufficient to say that communism does not work and that capitalism does because the most prosperous countries are mixed economies that offer generous safety nets (i.e. free markets and social services). If Cuba wants to change its society without repeating the cycle of corruption and mismanagement then it needs to limit the collusion between economic and political power as much as possible by creating stronger institutions.  

The Cuban revolution began in 1953 and ended in 1959 with the expulsion of dictator Fulgencio Batista by communist revolutionary Fidel Castro, who closely aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union and became a dictator himself. It was Cuba’s partnership with the Soviet Union that sustained its economy until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Subsequently, the economy fell into turmoil until 2000 when it started receiving subsidized oil from Venezuela. However, Venezuelan aid dwindled due to its own economic problems, hurting the Cuban economy once again. Because of Cuba’s political ideology, the island has been largely isolated by the United States, until relations improved under the Obama Administration. Cuba’s economy has also improved since the collapse of the Soviet Union in terms of GDP, but hasn’t been enough to overcome the years of mismanagement, oppression, and a global pandemic. Since the election of Donald Trump, economic sanctions have been tightened which has continued under the Biden Administration.

The situation in Cuba is getting worse as a failing economic and political model and the country has become isolated from its external benefactors. While Cuban leadership needs to change, the United States also needs to assess whether or not an embargo is still a pragmatic solution. The USSR is no more and communism as an ideology no longer has the prestige it once had. The strife in Cuba is also causing mass immigration to the United States which only adds fuel to the already partisan debate over immigration. The advantages the United States receives from these embargoes seem to be backfiring while contradicting their own stated goal of incentivizing a private sector with sanctions that hurt the private sector. For progress to be made, the leaders of both Cuba and the United States need to make decisions based on the present and not outdated models of the 20th century.