Recently Cuba was back in the news. That island country, only ninety miles south of Key West, Florida, has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the early 1960s. In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution that overthrew the corrupt Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista. At first everyone thought the revolution was going to restore democracy and rule of law to the country. Soon, however, Castro’s true colors were exposed when he and his henchmen, including the notorious Ernesto “Che” Guevara, set up a communist government. The government quickly and violently suppressed all political opposition. It arrested and executed hundreds of businessmen and former government officials, seized all private property, detained a number of religious leaders (including American missionaries), and set up an economy based on Marxist principles. Since then thousands of Cubans have fled to the USA to escape the tyrannical rule of Castro and the successors of his communist regime.
Furthermore, Castro, early in the 1960s, aligned himself with the then most diabolical communist power, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). As you may know from history, or your own memory if you are my age or older, in 1962 the USSR secretly deployed nuclear armed missiles in Cuba pointed at America. Thus began one of the worst international conflicts in the latter half of the 20th century, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Eventually, the USSR removed the missiles but only after the USA promised not to invade Cuba. So, for more than sixty years now, Cuba has remained under communist rule. This is still the case even despite the fact that the USSR folded in 1991, abandoned communism, and ceased aiding the Cuban regime.
Fast forward to July 2021. For the last several weeks thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets of their cities to protest the continued rule of the Communist Party. And, as is typical of them, the communists have struck back with violent actions and arrests. The Cuban people, however, have continued their courageous crusade for freedom. So, after so many years as a communist state, why are the Cuban people resisting their country’s Marxist regime? The answer is simple. Marxism, and its offspring of socialism and communism, does not work! Every nation in the world where Marxist and socialist principles have gained control have ended up with disastrous results.
The ideals upon which Marxism rests of a controlled economy are flawed at their base. They cannot adequately provide the essential goods and services a society needs to prosper. (Read more about the terrible history of communism here: Legacy of Communism Part 1 and Legacy of Communism Part 2). After World War II many east European countries had communism forced on them by the occupying Soviet army. It is quite revealing, that, after the fall of the USSR, all of those countries threw out their communist rulers and jettisoned the communist system as soon as they could. The people were simply fed-up with the failure of socialism and wanted the freedom to live, go, and work as they pleased.
Yes, some countries, like Cuba, are still stuck in the communist morass. China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Laos are also still ruled by communist parties. Ironically, in the 1990s China restored some market driven principles of the free enterprise system to keep its economy above water. Incredibly, in 1998, Venezuela elected a socialist government. By 2010, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela had established a dictatorship and led the country, which at one time was the most prosperous in South America, to a disastrous economic decline.
The point of all this is that the belief system of Marxism is a lie. It is based on a fallacious Naturalist worldview understanding of reality and of human nature. Let us pray that the Cuban people will be able to finally rid themselves of the communist scourge that has made their country one of the poorest in the western hemisphere (second only to Haiti). Based on my experience with outstanding Cuban people I have known and worked with, I believe a free Cuba will become one of the world’s great economies and societies. Let’s pray for it to happen soon.