Cuba witnesses mass exodus, result of ‘havoc and bad decisions’

Cuba’s economy has been on a downward trajectory since 2019, El País noted, even though the government began allowing the creation of private businesses for the first time in decades three years ago. A combination of “havoc and bad decisions,” — harsh sanctions imposed during the Trump administration, the closed borders and lack of tourists during the pandemic, the government’s failure to implement policies to address shortages of food, medicines, and other basic products and increase production; and scaled back aid from allies Venezuela and Russia — have led to a sense of hopelessness among the public. Some have resorted to selling everything, even their house, to buy a one-way ticket off the island, the outlet added.

The stifling of individual freedoms by Cuba’s communist leadership is a major contributor to the country’s mass exodus, independent Cuban outlet Havana Times argued. The country’s constitution criminalizes populist attempts to change the country’s political and economic situation, and the country hasn’t held a free election in more than 60 years. By some measures, the state is also the main employer in the country, which discourages even more people from expressing dissent to avoid losing work. The government systematically punishes all forms of public criticism, Human Rights Watch has found, which it has ramped up even further in the wake of 2021 protests against the dire economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In general, migrants increasingly experience tightening restrictions on where they can live and work in Europe and North America, The Economist noted, which “could prove immensely damaging to economies.” Measures to clamp down on immigration, particularly extreme policies like mass deportation, could have both short- and long-term consequences for Western economies, including increased inflation and worker shortages in crucial industries, like agriculture. In the US, though unlikely, a mass deportation of the kind Donald Trump proposes could cut GDP down by as much as 12% over three years, the Peterson Institute for International Economics think tank has estimated.