Cuba: A Paradise on the Brink

On one side, the past: 50 years of isolation from the modern world has preserved an ecological paradise. Etc. Foreign tourists were confined to a few stretches of seacoast. But the authoritarian nightmare that Cubans endured on a daily basis left an unforeseen legacy. Poor as they are, they possess riches beyond measure. Cuba is a Garden of Eden: the last large-scale example of what the Caribbean was like a hundred years ago.

During these 50 years, rules and regulations were the order of the day. Restrictions and outright bans applied to owning a boat, diving, fishing hunting, cutting down trees, farming, manufacturing, construction, etc. Foreign tourists were confined to a few stretches of seacoast. But the authoritarian nightmare that Cubans endured on a daily basis left an unforeseen legacy. Poor as they are, they possess riches beyond measure. On one side, the past: 50 years of isolation from the modern world has preserved an ecological paradise.