What jarred me about all this is that I'd seen it before -- in Berlin, Germany, in 1960. I was stationed there before the Wall and could look across into Communist East Berlin and East Germany. There too, the buildings rotted away untouched, as they do in Cuba. Fifteen years after WWII, the rubble from Allied bombs was untouched. Under Communism, everything... just... stops.
The contrast in free West Berlin was amazing. The rubble had long been cleared (the two highest hills in Berlin were rubble heaps). Commerce thrived, lights burned, Berliners had jobs and plans and hope for the future. Night life was lively (to say the least!). East Germans were flooding in despite barbed wire and machine guns at the borders. That, of course, is why East Germany had to build the Wall -- to keep workers from fleeing the "workers' paradise." And when the Wall came down, in 1989, the whole Soviet Empire was doomed and came down soon after.
Castroism will go soon too. When liberty returns to Cuba, the monuments to Che and Fidel will be pulled down, and nothing will remain of Castro's works but bitter memories of evil and injustice and oppression.
And Cuba will finally live up to its enormous economic potential. Given the sheer size of the island there is way more than enough room for growing a long list of tropical agricultural products out of the wazoo, there are plentiful mineral resources to tap on the island, there are hundreds of miles of beaches waiting to be exploited, and you still have enough land left over to save as preserves for highly lucrative eco-tourism. In short, within one generation after the fall of Communism Cuba could become one of the richest countries in all of Latin America, especially since its biggest potential trading partner--the USA--is literally next door!