Cuba: A Cult of Personality Without the Personality

Harvard Grad student’s take on Cuba:

Without change, of course, Cuba will face the same dilemma it has for years, hemmed in by a bleak economic reality on one side and ideological dogmatism on the other. To liberalize flies in the face of everything the country has stood for and would generate excruciating collective dissonance — a half-century’s worth of mea culpa and a tacit acknowledgement that the hardships faced since 1959 have been for naught. On the other hand, to continue down the Marxist path means food rations, underemployment, a lack of medical supplies, and a dearth of basic goods. It’s a familiar dilemma for Havana’s powers-that-be and the long-suffering Cuban people alike.
Ultimately, the most likely scenario is that Raúl will continue where his brother left off, carrying on the general message of the Revolution and tinkering at the margins where it is advantageous and where he can get away with it.