[kyboren]

No, the shitty regime has stolen, squandered, and prevented the vast majority of Cuba's (potential) income.

They've received free oil from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia for decades. This whole crisis is because the country is horribly mismanaged and the free ride is over.

Most countries have to purchase their oil at market prices. Cuba has been spared that burden yet is still worse off than the average country.

IIRC both Russia and China have demanded economic reforms which are not forthcoming. The Chinese aren't stupid and they don't seem too interested in pissing their money away indefinitely on a 'partner' who ignores them.

[pessimizer]

The entire crisis is because the US has been abusing Cuba since Batista fell, don't get confused. The idea that Cuba is being coddled because it isn't paying market prices when the US has been excluding it from the market for your entire life and most of your parents' lives is sadistic and cynical.

You don't get to criticize the quality of someone's system until you take your foot off their neck.

[robocat]

> because the US

Reducing the root cause to the US is ludicrous. Cuba had agency and their government made some horrific choices for their citizens.

I was there about 20 years ago and it was the most depressing place I've ever visited: the authoritarianism and corruption and tragedy was so visibly prevalent . . . even to a tourist. It was frightening because problems are usually better hidden from foreigners.

Summarising a complex situation as though it has one simple cause is a human sign of ignoring complexity or systems.

Yes, the impact of US political choices was deeply hideous. That doesn't excuse the Cuban government from their choices about how to deal with that.

[lenkite]

But the current crisis is most certainly due to the United States - double confirmed by the U.S. administration. The U.S. President and his Secretary of State have BOTH boasted about stopping oil delivery to Cuba and tightening the screws on them. They want easy regime change.

"THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE." The Cuban government is "ready to fall" or "failing pretty soon" due to this cutoff!

Rubio has in slightly less pompous fashion confirmed that the U.S. has now successfully weakened Cuba.

Personally, I despise the current U.S. administration's glee at causing suffering. "Might Makes Absolute Right" & "Vae Victis" are the current American mottos. No old-fashioned velvet glove over the steel fist - it is barbed with titanium and doused with hellfire now.

[cryptonector]

If Cuba's government had created prosperity when they had the chance then they wouldn't be experiencing this crisis right now. They had a decade plus of no economic blockade from the U.S., and still they squandered the opportunity. They had 6+ decades of subsidies from their friends (minus a brief period following the fall of the USSR), and still they squandered that. This is because Cuba's government does not want prosperity for its citizens (subjects) for whatever reason (probably because they would be harder to keep down), and instead preferred to live off the largesse of the USSR (later Russia), Venezuela, and Mexico.

There is no world in which that is OK!

[lenkite]

> They had a decade plus of no economic blockade from the U.S., and still they squandered the opportunity.

Err when was this decade plus of zero economic blockade ? I think you have confused less than two tiny years from 2015-2017. Nothing can be done in 2 years. By the time you setup trade, you are blockaded by the big bully who wants to make you suffer pain and you can do nothing. There is also a big bully base at home to ensure complete compliance to pain.

Blaming a victim for being abused is a really terrific argument.

[kyboren]

Blockade != Embargo.

Canadians have famously enjoyed tourism in Cuba for decades. I've purchased Cuban cigars in Europe. European and Canadian divers have gushed to me about their amazing dive sites.

I'm not going to say US trade policy hasn't hurt Cuba. But it's not like they're totally economically cut off from the world. They ought to be doing much better than they are.

Cuba's problems emanate from Havana, not Washington D.C.

[hulitu]

> their government made some horrific choices for their citizens.

like not fighting against US' embargo ?