Dark times for Cuba’s economic experiment

Cuba is facing a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis as a result of a renewed U.S. oil embargo that has cut off nearly all fuel supplies to the island. With the U.S. blocking oil shipments from Venezuela and other countries, frequent and prolonged blackouts have crippled daily life—buses are idle, hospitals struggle, and people can't charge phones or access reliable internet. The crisis has devastated Cuba’s once-thriving private sector, exemplified by Yasser González Cabrera, a former bike tour operator whose business collapsed after tourism dried up. Once a symbol of Cuba’s cautious embrace of capitalism during the 2010s, the private economy now teeters on collapse. This follows decades of economic experimentation: from Soviet-backed communism, to the 'Special Period' after the USSR’s fall, to a brief tourism-driven boom fueled by U.S. travel under Obama and oil from Venezuela under Chavez. But with Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions, Venezuela’s economic collapse, and the pandemic, Cuba’s dual strategy of relying on communist allies and capitalist frenemies has failed. Now, with no oil, no tourists, and no safety net, the country is at a crossroads. Economist Ricardo Torres, who left Cuba in 2021, describes a society losing its moral reserves—its faith in the revolutionary dream—while inequality grows and poverty deepens. Yet amid despair, small acts of resilience persist, like Yasser’s free bike gatherings that bring people together not just for transport, but for joy and community. The episode ends with a stark realization: Cuba’s survival may now depend on a negotiation with its most formidable adversary—the United States.