Part of going to a place like Moscow and seeing it dingy and depressing is getting first hand experience of what communism is like and what it does to a country. Experiencing China, Cuba, etc really opens your eyes and brings "communism sucks" from something you experience on the internet to something you're familiar with in real life.
Cubas saving grace is the climate and beaches, it has almost no other redeeming factors.
I don't know if you've ever been there, I was lucky enough to get in. Cuba is interesting, because it has every element required to make it a wealthy tourist destination. Climate, beaches, easily accessible via cruise ship and plane for the USA and Canada. Cuba has so much potential to be wealthy and it's a total slum with people living in "apartments with the roof collapsed.
Yes I have been there. Havana is falling apart but I guess the revolution has saved it from having all its architecture torn down and turned into another miami style city with skyscrapers and real estate everywhere.
I guess another plus is that remaining communist shields it's from becoming a degenerate sithole like the rest of Latin America is. Drugs are non existent, no subversive American ideology, crime is low. There are some pros.
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