Its a gangster state, totally corrupt and filled with cynics and opportunists. Its not because its a communist dictatorship, its just crooked. In Cuba, if you want your colleague's job, or his wife, you denounce him as un imperialista yanqui. The men who judge him may not believe you, but they're afraid of being denounced themselves if they don't punish him promptly and severely. You must not only cooperate with the Party, you must actively work for it, go out of your way for it. Its mutually assured denunciation. The political system it most resembles is East Germany. In fact, the STASI trained Cuba's secret police.

As much as I critize the exile Cubans for their rabid anti-Communist fanaticism, You can't really blame them if they're a little over the top in their anti-socialist feelings. Soviet Communism raped Cuba repeatedly, and they were forced to watch helplessly. Its like Israel, maybe they are unfair to the Palestinians, but with their history in Europe, can you really blame them?

Still, before Castro, Cuba was no free enterprise democratic paradise. Like many S American countries, it has a history and a legacy of tough, authoritarian rulers with their finger in the till. The dictator Fidel replaced was a brutal thug and a thief. He really needed to go.

As for Cuba's future, I can make no guarantees. If the Communists are overthrown, the Miami Cubans are going back ready to settle old scores, and reclaim their old property. They will be the new carpetbaggers.

I'm for normalizing relations. The only way that government will fall is if its own people overthrow it. Rock and Roll and the internet will prove more effective than propaganda, conspiracy, and embargoes.

This is why I often criticize the exile Cubans for their tough economic policies against the regime. They insist the US and other nations do no business with the Cuban regime, but they mail US dollars and consumer goods to their relatives on the island all the time. Those private donations and relief mailings is what keeps the Cuban Communists afloat. That little hypocrisy is what nobody in Miami wants to talk about.