Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a Cuban economist and professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, says tensions between economic and political power make Cuba today a catastrophe.[1]
Since 2019, Cuba’s own data shows average annual decline of 2% in its economy. And its industrial production in 2022 was less than half of what it was in 1989. And agricultural production has experienced an average annual drop of 7.3% between 2016 and 2022 while Cuba does not generate enough exports to pay for imports. This has resulted in Cuban inflation that is among the highest in the world. This requires Cuba to depend on another nation; first it was the Soviet Union, then Venezuela, but both of them had their own problems that interfered with such assistance to Cuba.
The economic and cultural reforms promoted by Raul Castro were well oriented, but they were very slow, loaded with obstacles, high taxes and inspections. Now the egalitarian society is over, but the Government does not talk about it. Instead it blames the private sector while refusing to delegate economic power which would require a delegation of political power.
=================
[1] Carmelo Mesa-Lago: ’anything you look at, housing, health, education, everything is finished,’ Diario de Cuha (June 11, 2024).