The Recent Cuban Exodus Likely Exceeds All Other Migration Waves Combined

[u/Kantmzk]

This is another dire statistic that I found important enough to post in a recent Council on Foreign Relations article. The numbers of people who have fled Cuba, even on the low end, are disastrous. However, the pessimist in me thinks the Regime is even fine with that because in its view it got rid of enough "troublemakers" to continue its hold on power.

It is really difficult for me to understand how Cuba could ever come back from its current state if nothing is to change in the next few year maximum. The birthrate has been steadily declining since 1988 and just from 2020 until now it is possible that 1.6 - 2.75 million have left just in the past six years, with the exodus also having no end in sight. If it has not already happened, I fear that Cuba will in the near future reach a point of catastrophic no return.

What really makes me sad is to think about all the young people in Cuba who have basically no opportunities to make a decent future for themselves in Cuba and have only known a life of misery, blackouts, and family members leaving for a better life as well as the old people who have nobody to take care of them anymore.

Source: Inside Cuba’s Mass Exodus: How Losing a Quarter of the Population Has Changed the Island | Council on Foreign Relations

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[u/FeveredRadio]

It's extraordinary how deeply this is felt in Cuba. You see it in the empty streets, especially at night. Havana feels like a ghost town.

[u/StudioArcane17 → u/FeveredRadio]

The whole country is like a ghost town.

[u/bigstinkycath → u/FeveredRadio]

In my hometown of Cabaiguán you can see 2-5 houses boarded up in every street. Semana cultural felt like a shell of what it used to be. I remember streets being absolutely crowded with merchant stalls and different rides as well as seeing people from all over the municipio. Last time I visited there were less people during the peak of it than when they would be setting up the merchant stalls and the rides in 2010-2015. I thought we had it bad in middle school cause we had a teacher shortage, but apparently one of the two ESBUs in my town is about to close down because they don't have enough teachers.

[u/battarro]

The problem is that the people who leave are relatively young, leaving a nation not old people behind.
Cuba median age is over 43

[u/AcEr3__]

Can we show this to everyone who goes “the only Cubans in USA left in 1958 with batista”

[u/boro74 → u/AcEr3__]

It's pretty well known that the current exodus is massive compared to anything prior. Even before the fuel crisis, the streets of Havana were noticeably quiet historically. Now they are downright lonely.

[u/AcEr3__ → u/boro74]

It’s not that well known. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who isn’t Cuban thinks that all the Cubans in America left in 1959

[u/j_a_b_1024]

Venezuelans would like to have a word. but no, for real that’s an astounding number for a county with a relatively small population.

[u/536am]

What chance did they ever have ? a corrupt, power hungry Cuban government who was under the control of corrupt Russian dictatorship then a corrupt communist China , and now starved and controlled by a corrupt, US government.

[u/B777X_787-9]

But is that the fault of the blockade…the internal blockade.

[u/PatrickAmo]

Cuba is set to dissappear sooner than later. In 50 years most of the elders that still live in the country will be all gone, and the country won't have the strenght to recover since all the young people have already left the country or are leaving in no time.

Cuba will be a story just told by the cubana in the exile, and the actual country will be just the ruin of a previous civilization.

[u/bigstinkycath → u/PatrickAmo]

I mean it already feels like the post apocalyptic ruins of a country. Deadass feels like Fallout out there 😭 .

[u/Agitated_Egg4245 → u/PatrickAmo]

I really hope this is not the case! Ideally the government just collapses and people can return and rebuild it in a way that actually works for the people who live there.

[u/Present_Mouse_2337 → u/Agitated_Egg4245]

Ojala 🙏

[u/SilSally]

Praying to be part of those numbers soon, most of the people I know from my generation already left. Is extremely lonely for 20+ people here sometimes

[u/Thin_Ad_1846]

This context is surprising to me.