10% of Cubans left Cuba between 2022 and 2023

Scale and nature of the exodus

• Around 10% of Cuba’s population has left in 2022–23, mostly younger, working‑age, often skilled people.
• Commenters highlight “brain drain” and loss of critical professionals (e.g., IT, doctors), plus a hollowing‑out of potential domestic opposition.
• Some argue emigration also stabilizes the regime via remittances and by exporting discontented citizens.

Causes of the crisis: internal vs external

• Many see core causes as internal: one‑party communist system, central planning, corruption, nepotism, lack of incentives, and military‑run business conglomerates starving other sectors.
• Examples cited: chronic shortages, decayed infrastructure, collapsed domestic industries (sugar, textiles, phones), long waits for basic services, and heavy focus on tourism and hotel construction at the expense of essentials.
• Others emphasize external shocks: COVID’s hit to tourism, loss of subsidized fuel, and long‑running US embargo/sanctions.
• Strong disagreement over weight of US measures:
  • One side: embargo and secondary financial effects are “brutal,” limit access to trade, finance, inputs (e.g., medical supplies), and are the primary driver of underdevelopment.
  • Other side: Cuba trades with many countries; the embargo is a convenient scapegoat for systemic policy failure.

Character of the Cuban regime

• Broad consensus that Cuba is an authoritarian or totalitarian one‑party state, with the Communist Party above the constitution and no real electoral competition.
• Reports of human‑rights abuses, repression of dissent, and politicized control of the economy.
• Some debate over whether “dictatorship” is the right label, but little disagreement on lack of political freedom.

US policy, Florida politics, and geopolitics

• Sanctions seen by many as driven by Cuban‑American exile politics in Florida and US electoral calculus, not current security needs.
• Critics argue 60+ years of sanctions have failed to produce regime change and mainly punish civilians; supporters say sanctions constrain a hostile regime and its regional influence.
• Some worry normalization could strengthen Cuba as a Russian/Chinese foothold near the US; others say continued hostility only pushes Havana toward those powers.

Perceptions and immigration politics

• Outside the US, Cuba is often viewed more positively or romantically, especially as a tourist destination; this clashes with accounts from Cubans and Cuban‑Americans describing severe hardship.
• Long digressions connect the Cuban case to broader US immigration debates, brain drain, and partisan divides, with Cuban‑Americans described as strongly anti‑communist and politically influential in Florida.