I lived in Cuba for three years. It's an extremely flawed system, but it's beautiful, too. It taught me to live with nothing, Yet still have everything I needed. Change needs to come to Cuba. Cubans need to be able to travel freely, speak freely, and access the material things they so desire. Hopefully that change won't completely undo the few things there that really are outstanding: the education system, the healthcare, the arts scene. I wonder how everyday Cubans feel today. I imagine there's excitement and fear and sadness at the same time - a small child losing its authoritarian father. There's still a lot of love for him on the island. One thing is for sure, 2016 is determined to prove that all those C20th truths are now irrelevant.
Yes. What is particularly surprising is how unviolent it is, compared to neighbours like Jamaica, Mexico and even Puerto Rico to a certain extent. It's such an innocent place in some ways, I do fear a bit for its future. At the same time, people are highly educated and well-read, so I'm not sure they'll be easily duped. At least, I hope not (I have been underestimating the gullibility of electorates a lot lately)!
I admittedly know less than I should about Cuba and the controversy around Castro. What I'm gathering though is America was friendly with the previous dictator, but Castro was more friendly with the Soviet Union so America cut them off and tried to start shit all while acting like it was about human rights violations while being chummy with fucking Saudi Arabia, is that accurate ?