On an afternoon filled with sun in Havana, the pastel buildings shine in the Caribbean light, the rhythm of salsa pouring from open windows. It can feel to the casual visitor to this island that Cuba is a timeless postcard: charming, vibrant – even carefree. But behind those bright facades is the other Cuba – a place of empty supermarket shelves, prices that render wages symbolic at best, and where “survival mode” makes real wishes seem out of reach.
Cuba’s Marxist experiment, once supported by Soviet subsidies, has now only degenerated to dysfunction. The island lives in a permanent state of crisis. Families wait in long lines for hours hoping to score cooking oil or even just bread. Hospitals lack basic medicines; teachers and doctors earn less in a month than most tourists spend for an evening.
The contrast is stark in Cuba. Tourists sip mojitos at Hemingway’s lauded drinks bar, El Floridita, while regular Cubans struggle to find a bread for their children. What outsiders see as retro charm – fleets of vintage American cars, colonial streets untouched by time – is, for Cubans, a symbol of a system that has failed to modernize.
Everyone knows it, even the youth. Most talk openly about leaving, usually with dreams of Miami, Madrid, or anywhere that looks to the future. For them, opportunity lies not at home, but on the other side of the water.
And yet Cubans endure. They laugh, play music, and invite strangers into their homes. Their resilience is astonishing, but it is not enough to mask the structural decay. Communism, far from delivering equality, has left behind scarcity, fear, and a society where hope itself feels rationed.
Cuba’s lesson is not an easy one. Authoritarian regimes rarely fall cleanly; they hang around and rot from within the societies they borrow. For post-Soviet nations, Cuba is an epitaph for what could have been and what still might be if Russia manages to restore its authoritarian model.
Beyond the facades
Cuba continues to be among the few remaining strongholds of communism left in the world – a country with its vibrant colors hiding profound dysfunction. For decades, the Caribbean island has been romanticized for its music, culture, and colonial buildings, but it is a stark reminder of how communism causes countries to stagnate and be impoverished.
Tourists find Cuba captivating – the salsa, rum, and pastel-colored streets – but Cubans deal with negotiating life about scarcity every day. The bright facades are representations of the state itself: still beautiful and colorful on the outside, rotten on the inside.
For those from post-Soviet nations in Eastern Europe, this is poignant. The impact of communism is not only the deprivation of stuff, but it is the crushing of human potential. We have chosen the difficult road to freedom. Cubans are still waiting for their opportunity.
Though the government articulates an education and healthcare system that is unbeatable, the observations I took were in stark contrast to what they were saying: limited opportunities, low wages, and not much untapped potential.
This contrast between the outward charm of Havana’s streets and the country’s internal struggles is striking. Tourists may see color and music; locals confront scarcity and repression.
Parallels to the Soviet legacy
The situation in Cuba is not a distant tale for Ukrainians; it embodies the same legacy of communism which suffocated Ukraine. Under the Soviet Union, Ukrainians experienced chronic shortages, censorship, and systemic repression. Now, while Ukraine has selected the path of reform and integration with Europe, Russia’s war is an effort to pull the country back into a system of authoritarian control which persists in Havana.
Cuba’s resilience – the ability of its people to endure poverty with warmth and optimism – is admirable. But optimism is no substitute for reform. As long as the communist system remains intact, Cuba is condemned to repeat the cycle of scarcity, censorship, and despair.
Lessons for the future
Cuba’s destiny serves as an admonition. Communism does not disappear; it festers and sows the seeds of desolation, imprisoning a society in perpetual dysfunction thereupon. The war in Ukraine is more than about territory; it is ensuring that Ukraine does not have to suffer Cuba’s fate – being a society in waiting for some indefinite and unending change.
Havana’s vibrant facades are charming, yet they are the metaphor of the Cuban state atmospherically: charming to the outsiders, yet internally flimsy and decaying. Once again, the lesson is clear: part decisively with the past, or be forever trapped by it.
The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.