HAVANA, Cuba — Saturday marked 63 years since the communist usurpation of Cuba — 63 years of unfettered totalitarian control by the Castro brothers, their henchmen, and successors over nearly every aspect of their subjects’ lives.

The government refers to the anniversary of its 1959 victory as “Triumph of the revolution” or “Liberation Day.” But those titles are deeply misleading. The revolution has been anything but a triumph for my nation. And instead of liberating the Cuban people, the communist regime has forced them to live as prisoners on a prison island.