Communist Cuba Is on the Brink of Collapse
The Caribbean island is going through its harshest economic crisis in three decades. The world should prepare for an eventual and sorely needed regime change.
Waiting for a better future.
Photographer: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
Almost unnoticed amid the drama and crisis that hit Latin America every week, in the last days of February the Cuban government asked the United Nations for aid to address a growing food shortage.
The unprecedented cry for help from a communist regime that has always prided itself on its social welfare model captures Cuba’s dire economic straits. Hurt by tightened US restrictions, decaying domestic production, a weak post-Covid tourism industry and indifference from its allies, the island is living through its worst economic days since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago. A string of blackouts brought people into the streets last weekend, shouting for “food and power” — a rare display of social unrest since the turmoil that shook the island in July 2021, which the regime contained with crushing force.