Cuba Approves 176 Market Reforms Amid Crisis
Is Cuba's crisis caused by crippling U.S. sanctions or decades of Communist economic mismanagement?
Above: Trash accumulates amid economic constraints in Havana Centro, Cuba, on May 29. Image credit: Magdalena Chodownik/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Spin
Left narrative
U.S. sanctions are strangling Cuba's civilian population. Infant mortality has doubled, childhood cancer survival rates have collapsed, and 40% of Cubans are eating one meal a day or less. The humanitarian impacts are a collective punishment on ordinary people who have nothing to do with Havana's politics.
Right narrative
Eliminating price controls, cutting ministries and opening foreign direct investment to the private sector signal that Cuba's outdated socialist model is broken beyond repair. Blaming sanctions is a deflection from decades of self-inflicted economic mismanagement.
