>>>One question: Why do you think the embargo is responsible for the poverty in Cuba?
>>
>>Because it impeded Cuba's economic growth. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cubans nearly starved. As I said in the piece, their caloric intake dropped by a third.
>
>All true, but there is a bigger picture.
>
>Losing the Soviet Aid was catastrophic.
>That their economy was so bad that they needed aid to get enough to eat... is disturbing.
>
>Blaming the embargo was great propaganda for Castro, but propaganda feeds nobody.
>The bigger issue is that robbing people of economic freedom is just not a path to prosperity.
>How could it be?
>
>The fact is, other communist dictatorships end up in poverty and so did this one.
>The embargo certainly did not help Cuba, but ignoring the usual and expected results from a communist dictatorship is just silly.



Trouble is the free market in these developing countries is often a disaster for humanitarian reasons. A few become vastly wealthy, pull the levers of power and crush the masses.