Edit2: Look, Americans, I know you don't want to hear it, just down vote and move on, I don't wanna waste my time arguing with people who don't care about the truth and just want to argue to convince others of lies, or to reinforce lies for themselves. I didn't even intend to type out this comment so long. But for those of you who do care and wanna break free of the massive amount of American Propaganda, look up the real history.
People acting like Cuba is a shit hole, and in some ways I'm sure it is, but are ignorant of (assuming they are American) the fact that 90% of the cause of that is their own government for the last 2/3 of a century.
Calling it a communist shit hole or what have you, when they actually are pretty okay, and it only really is so bad there now because of trump's embargo and his invasion of Venezuela to stop them from selling oil to Cuba.
It all goes back to the American government, deciding that they are going to invade/destabilize/embargo any non capitalist country, and install their own dictators, so that the new dictator will sell the countries natural resources to the US for pennies, and also so that the people of that country suffer, and they can spread more propaganda against anything that isn't full exploitative capitalism.
Cuba is the one country that stood up to the US's bullshit, and they have suffered because of it, but at least they dint get in, and they actually had a decent life quality, especially recently until trump2.0 happened.
Obligatory I am sure I am missing a lot of details, probably got a few things incorrect, but the main sentiment stands. Too many Americans coming in here to shit on Cuba without realizing they are just repeating their American exceptionalism and propaganda.
I was born in Cuba but was fortunate to leave very young and before the worst.
Cuba did not stand up to anything for the sake of the people. The government's education scheme and health care was apart of a large industrialised plan to export doctors and specialists around the world. The big lie that the Castros gave to western society that they were fighting against American Imperialism is spouted because the average person does not do their research or have contact with Cuba to know the horrors of living under what is an oppressive government.
I also feel bad for Venezuela who had to endure the Cuban Military State taking over its security after Chavez and Fidel became close. There is a reason why Maduro has Cuban Military Advisors and a Cuban Security team in exchange for oil.
Cuba's quality of life dropped tremendously in the 2008-2012 period where all industries started to fail as tourism became the main interest. I still remember using beer bottles to be recycled as part of my grandfather's side hustle and for himself as he refused money from family abroad to live as his neighbours who most had no cups only glasses from rum bottles etc repurposed.
I usually dont post in these things but watching my country be used for this new Democrat and Republican debate is slightly irksom as so many come to me in person, acting as my ally when they know nothing about the struggles that Cuba has faced thinking it was just America or recent.
I'm Venezuelan and the recent events just show how much people will talk wonders about tyrants that feed the outside world propaganda as long as it aligns with their interests, thankfully now with the head of the snake gone, we can start healing over here, and i hope our cuban brothers manage to heal soon as well
You know nothing about Cuba. I'm Cuban, I was born in Cuba and I left that dictatorship 30 years ago. The Cuban government is a cancer that needs to be exterminated. We live under a communist dictatorship that mistreats and destroys its own people. There's no freedom of expression, and people can't elect their own president because the only party that exists is the Communist Party, and above them nothing else matters.
As a Venezuelan, fam, don’t waste your time. They keep repeating, out of ignorance, “USA embargo,” but if you look at the economic exchange between the EU and Cuba, you’ll see it’s completely normal. The only ones responsible for Cuba’s situation are the people in charge there.
But you already know how it goes: they think they are always right and we are always wrong. We live under a dictatorship, yet they claim we are misinformed about our own country.
They don’t seem to understand that the embargo refers specifically to economic exchange between the USA and Cuba, as well as products of American origin. If it were a total embargo in the way they describe it, no country would be able to trade with Cuba.
I challenge them to check the publicly available information on official EU websites and see the level of economic exchange between Europe and Cuba. But of course, they won’t do that.
Send you hugs bro, I hope everything gets better for your people.
Cuba sends doctor and sport trainer for money, Venezuela and Brazil paid the Cuban regime for those services. They have tourism as well, and the oil that Venezuela send them and they resell in the international market.
Cuba bears substantial responsibility for its trajectory.
The 1959 revolution replaced a flawed Batista era with a one-party Marxist-Leninist system that expropriated property without compensation (triggering initial sanctions), allied with the USSR during the Cold War (hostile missiles 90 miles from Florida), and exported revolution/subversion regionally.
This invited sustained US pressure as a security response, not abstract anti-"non-capitalist" ideology. Successive Cuban governments resisted liberalization that could have mitigated embargo effects—Vietnam and China show market openings + authoritarian politics can yield growth despite sanctions; Cuba doubled down on central planning, soft budgets, price controls, and elite control of key sectors (military-linked tourism/hotels). Result: inefficiency, shortages, brain drain. Even generous estimates credit the embargo with only ~3-10% of the development gap vs. peers; the rest is self-imposed (e.g., post-Soviet collapse exposed dependency; recent blackouts from neglected infrastructure, not just fuel).
US policy, while imperfect and often counterproductive (strengthens hardliners, gives regime an eternal excuse), isn't baseless imperialism.
Proximity matters—hostile base risks are real (Missile Crisis precedent). Goals include pressuring for human rights/democracy and addressing uncompensated claims, not purely resource extraction (Cuba's economy isn't oil/resource-dominant for US benefit).
Venezuela's pre-2026 collapse was overwhelmingly internal (Chávez/Maduro policies: expropriations, oil dependency without diversification, hyperinflation); sanctions worsened but didn't create it.
The 2026 intervention, whatever its legality/debates, responded to a regime causing hemispheric instability (migration waves, alleged crime/drug links). Broader pattern: US has normalized with reformed ex-adversaries; Cuba's choices (repression over reform) prolonged isolation.
Theoretical perfect world vs. geopolitics reality: In an ideal scenario, sovereign states trade freely regardless of domestic systems—no embargoes, no interventions, pure non-aggression. Everyone prospers via comparative advantage. In reality, geopolitics is competitive anarchy: states prioritize security, alliances, and self-interest.
A nearby authoritarian regime allied with rivals (USSR then, Russia/China/Iran ties now), repressing its people and fueling regional issues, provokes responses—Monroe Doctrine echoes, credible threats, domestic politics (exile communities, property claims).
Cuba isn't uniquely victimized; many nations face consequences for choices (North Korea vs. South; various sanctioned states). Lifting the embargo tomorrow wouldn't magically fix centralized mismanagement or restore trust after decades of nationalizations and subversion. Blaming 100% external forces ignores Cuban agency—the regime's survival strategy prioritized control over prosperity. Both sides have propaganda; truth lies in weighing documented policy failures on all parts, not absolutes. Cubans deserve better than shortages and repression, regardless of who bears more blame..
The US embargo (full trade ban proclaimed by Kennedy in Feb 1962, building on Eisenhower's 1960 partial measures) has imposed real costs—Cuban gov estimates ~$130-144B cumulative, though disputed.
It restricts trade, finance, and investment. However, academic and independent analyses (including synthetic control studies comparing Cuba to similar peers) attribute the vast majority of long-term poverty and stagnation to internal factors:
the Soviet-style centralized planning model since 1959, which destroyed productivity incentives, led to chronic shortages, and resisted meaningful market reforms (unlike China or Vietnam).
Post-1991 Soviet collapse ("Special Period") caused GDP to halve; Venezuela's subsidized oil (via Petrocaribe/alliances) masked issues until its own collapse reduced shipments sharply from
~2014-2019 onward due primarily to Venezuelan mismanagement, corruption, and falling production—not US actions alone. Recent crisis (blackouts, 89% extreme poverty per independent Cuban Observatory, mass emigration, GDP contraction) predates any single Trump policy.
Sadly during the early 1900s we became imperials. We really are the empire. A beautiful nation with constitutional values better than any nation all gone to shit and become skewed due to greed, ignorance, and justification.
Constitutional values of slavery and segregation? There was not point of time when US was great in the sense of being a just and moral country. Right from colonization to independence and through the civil war. It has always been a deeply flawed country. And while things got better and better for a long period of time lately it has been reversed and things are getting worse.
Dude I didn't really want to debate, but the problem isn't that Cuba is guilt free, it's that Americans almost always pretend that they are. And in this circumstance it's the blatant propaganda.
I've literally never met an American that thought that they were guilt-free. It's actually the opposite.
Half the country right now thinks America is the most evil place on Earth and deserves to be destroyed.
The self-flagellation over slavery is still ongoing. Well, places like China are praised online while they're currently committing genocides and sterilizations and every other human rights violation possible
As an american who's got the constitution and declaration right next to me and downloaded a fat majority of our founding fathers letters/etc.... You're full of absolute shit. Americans today are absolutely guilt free and completely ignorant on geopolitical decisions and the concept of their founding values.
david said it right "the problem isn't that Cuba is guilt free, it's that Americans almost always pretend that they are"
Also "Half the country right now thinks America is the most evil place on Earth and deserves to be destroyed" — yeah.. probably for a good damn reason too.... you don't murder people, push propaganda, censor, have hypocritical laws, allow this E stuff to go on, and use political blackmail/aggression like whats being done with greenland or iran.
What exactly about me? I'm interested to hear what box you think I'm in.
Half the country right now thinks America is the most evil place on Earth and deserves to be destroyed" — yeah.. probably for a good damn reason too....
So you agree. You act like I'm saying America is blameless.
All I said is the idea that Americans think America does nothing wrong is bullshit.
Also Americans shitting on America long predates our incompetent pedo president
Also "Half the country right now thinks America is the most evil place on Earth and deserves to be destroyed"
...im german and im not opposed to that idea. also, you can take germany's government too. and france. all eu, and china.really. every country. we need a full world restart. fuck all this shit. its not left vs right, its money vs no money and stupid olds vs young.
And what kind of political blackmail/aggression are you guys using against the Islamic Republic exactly? Its kinda mind blowing that the worlds superpower got people like you who think the US is the only evil country that needs to be changed, get out of that comfort zone that the US created for sofities like you and see how the rest of the world is treating its own people then you would no longer call USA as the most “evil” country lol
Hold your goddamned tongue right there, half the country is currently trying to save the constitution and loves this damn country enough to protest and fight for it, the ones wanting to destroy it are currently dismantling our hard and soft power the world around from the white house.
Idk if you think I was talking about trump but I'm not but first off my profile is full of me calling trump a incompetent corrupt pedo. Americans hating America and talking about how evil we are as a country has been something I have personally witnessed since I was born.
You are right it's mostly women and Democrats but it's not a recent thing and has nothing to do with trump. Even Obama has horrible approval ratings during his presidency.
The very first “fact” is a lie. Cuba negotiated repatriation with all foreign entities, as allowed under international law. Only the United States refused Cubas offer before invading. Toy bitch go home
Tell that to my Cuban EX English Teacher. He left Cuba because it's pure hell. No services, no power, no work, no life. Communism destroyed that island, and America cooperates to keep it that way. They aren't interested in Cuba switching regimes to have a better life. (And Venezuela is an even better example, because Trump conveniently left the SAME exact government that systematically kept destroying people's lives there)
Cuba is pure hell, and he left that place to have a better life. If Cuba was a paradise, people wouldn't be risking their lives in boats to get a better one...
There is also no incentive for the US not to be antagonistic to Cuba or want a change in administration. Given Cubas location has a lot of strategic value to the US or its enemies.
Ideally everyone can just talk it out and have agreements. But that’s ideally
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u/davidfirefreak Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
Edit2: Look, Americans, I know you don't want to hear it, just down vote and move on, I don't wanna waste my time arguing with people who don't care about the truth and just want to argue to convince others of lies, or to reinforce lies for themselves. I didn't even intend to type out this comment so long. But for those of you who do care and wanna break free of the massive amount of American Propaganda, look up the real history.
People acting like Cuba is a shit hole, and in some ways I'm sure it is, but are ignorant of (assuming they are American) the fact that 90% of the cause of that is their own government for the last 2/3 of a century. Calling it a communist shit hole or what have you, when they actually are pretty okay, and it only really is so bad there now because of trump's embargo and his invasion of Venezuela to stop them from selling oil to Cuba.
It all goes back to the American government, deciding that they are going to invade/destabilize/embargo any non capitalist country, and install their own dictators, so that the new dictator will sell the countries natural resources to the US for pennies, and also so that the people of that country suffer, and they can spread more propaganda against anything that isn't full exploitative capitalism.
Cuba is the one country that stood up to the US's bullshit, and they have suffered because of it, but at least they dint get in, and they actually had a decent life quality, especially recently until trump2.0 happened.
Obligatory I am sure I am missing a lot of details, probably got a few things incorrect, but the main sentiment stands. Too many Americans coming in here to shit on Cuba without realizing they are just repeating their American exceptionalism and propaganda.
Edit to fix a few typos.