[tristanj]

Cuba is poor because they run an absolutely insane Soviet-style communist planned economy. Every major industry is owned by the government, with state approved production targets, price controls, and state resource allocation. This is a failed economic model that doomed the Soviet Union that the rest of the world has moved on from.

Chinese officials visited Cuba and told them to adopt market-style reforms that were very successful in China, and Cuban government officials said no. The Chinese officials left extremely confused why Cuba would not consider them.

> their current power outages are [caused by the US]

No, only indirectly. Cuba used to receive billions of dollars of free oil from Venezuela, they would use part of it for internal consumption (electricity generation) then resell the rest to pay for imports. But after Maduro was deposed, free oil transfers stopped, Cuba needed to purchase oil on the open market, and there is no money to do so; hence the economic and electricity crisis.

[delecti]

Could the Cuban economy be run better? Sure, but Cuba is being actively blockaded by the US. To act like that isn't the proximate cause of their power outages is ridiculous.

[tristanj]

> Cuba is being actively blockaded by the US

False. This is a common point of confusion. There is no blockade on Cuba, only an embargo. You can research this yourself.

A blockade in international law requires a physical naval presence that intercepts ships. It is literally an act of war. The US is not intercepting ships that travel to Cuba. The US maintains an embargo on Cuba, not a blockade.

See https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/americas/cuba-russi...

> The United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba

> Asked by reporters about this article on Air Force One Sunday evening, President Trump confirmed it. “We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, because they need — they have to survive,” he said. “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that. Whether it’s Russia or not.”

The tanker in question successfully reached and delivered its cargo to Cuba.

The current energy crisis in Cuba is a result of the collapse of the Maduro regime, which was providing billions of dollars of free oil to Cuba.