Since 1959, the people of Cuba have lived under the tyranny of a one-party communist dictatorship. Although there have been a few episodes over the years that gave one hope that the brutal dictatorship could come to an end, somehow, the Communist Party of Cuba has maintained its stranglehold over the approximately 10 million Cubans who currently inhabit the beautiful Caribbean island.
Over the past few weeks, however, the Communist Party of Cuba has been on its back heels like never before.
For starters, Cuba is a very poor nation. Over the past several decades, Cuba’s command-and-control communist economic system has created mass poverty for the once-prosperous paradise.
In September 2025, long before the current crisis, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights issued its eighth Study on the State of Social Rights in Cuba.
According to the report, 89 percent of Cubans live in “extreme poverty,” and 78 percent intend to “emigrate.” Among their top concerns, 72 percent of Cubans fear “blackouts,” 71 percent are worried about lack of “food,” 61 percent are concerned about the “cost of living,” and 42 percent are afraid they won’t have access to “health care and medicine.”
When Cubans were asked their views on the regime, 92 percent disapproved of the government.
Of course, these types of opinions must be kept top-secret or else the Cuban secret police will have something to say about it.
Nonetheless, as is proven by the fact that thousands of Cubans have fled the island on flimsy rafts for the shores of Florida over the years is compelling evidence that life in communist Cuba is no picnic.
Basically, since its inception, Cuba has been kept afloat by the Soviet Union and Venezuela.
From the 1960s to the 1990s, Cuba received substantial aid from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Were it not for Russian food and fuel shipments, Cuba’s communist system would have gone belly up long ago.
In the early 1990s, following the demise of the Soviet Union, Cuba suffered immensely. But then Venezuela, under the leadership of socialist Hugo Chavez, provided Cuba with at least the energy it needed to keep the lights on.
However, Cuba’s partnership with Venezuela came to an abrupt end when Nicholas Maduro was captured and taken into U.S. custody.
Since then, Cuba has been more isolated than ever before. Moreover, it is running out of essential resources to keep the country functioning.
As of now, Cuba faces an acute energy crisis. Over the past few days, the nation has experienced massive blackouts that have left the entire island in the dark.
In a country not known for transparency, it was shocking to see Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines admit publicly that there had been a “complete disconnection” of the electrical system.
As the nation was experiencing a total loss of power, countless courageous Cubans decided it was time to hit the streets.
“Anti-government protesters attacked a Communist Party office in northern Cuba early on Saturday, a state-run newspaper reported, in a rare outburst of public dissent,” NBC News reported on March 14.
NBC News also noted that students “staged a sit-in on the steps of the University of Havana after the government suspended in-person classes.”
Make no mistake, this type of open protest rarely occurs in Cuba.
However, the regime has never faced an existential crisis like it currently does.
For more than seven decades, communist Cuba has been ruled with an iron fist. But the government cannot maintain its control if it literally cannot keep the lights on.
In Cuba, we may be witnessing something similar to Ernest Hemingway’s famous quip about going bankrupt two ways: gradually, then suddenly.
Cuban communism has been going bankrupt gradually for a very long time because the basic tenets of communism do not align with human nature’s desire for freedom and choice.
The current calamity is not due to Cuba’s loss of Venezuelan energy; it has been seven decades in the making, and it could come to a head sooner than later.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
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