Cuba on the Brink
Foreign Affairs••world
Key Points:
- Since the 2014 U.S.-Cuba diplomatic thaw, Cuba has faced severe economic decline, political repression, and public health crises, with over a million Cubans fleeing primarily to the U.S. amid the worst crisis since the Soviet collapse.
- External pressures, including reinstated U.S. sanctions under Trump and limited easing under Biden, alongside the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced Venezuelan oil aid, have exacerbated Cuba’s economic collapse and isolation.
- Despite some economic reforms under Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s government has maintained rigid central planning, limiting private sector growth and failing to unify currency markets effectively, resulting in rampant inflation and economic distortions.
- Attempts to expand private enterprise have seen some
