According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2023 Index of Economic Freedom, communist Cuba ranks 175 out of 176 for economic freedom. The only country worse is their communist brethren, North Korea.
Via the Heritage Foundation:
Cuba’s economic freedom score is 24.3, making its economy one of the world’s least free. Its score is 5.2 points lower than last year. Cuba is ranked least free of 32 countries in the Americas region, and its overall score is significantly lower than the world and regional averages.
Cuba’s inefficient state-run economy performs very poorly with component scores far below world averages in many categories. The foundations of economic freedom are poorly laid and ill-defended. The absence of an independent and fair judiciary weakens the rule of law. The private sector has long been shackled by tight state control.
Keep in mind this is the same Cuba groups and organizations on both the left and the right and members of congress have been lobbying for years that we should be doing business with. As this latest rating indicates, any business with the Castro dictatorship will do nothing to help the Cuban people, but that has never stopped these proponents from claiming otherwise.
A free Cuba can provide endless possibilities for business and the betterment of the lives of all Cubans, not just the small group of elites in power. But as this rating clearly indicates, business with a totalitarian Cuba only provides for the feeding of the dictatorship, which has kept the Cuban people enslaved for decades.
You can read the entire report HERE.