The Cuban music scene is dynamic. Music students form garage bands. Afro-Cuban women break barriers in rap. Jazz bands perform in art galleries. Aspiring artists record songs via cellphones and distribute music via CDs. On Feb. 16, 2021, seven Cuban artists released a reggaeton song, “Patria y Vida” (“Homeland and Life”), the title a play on the Cuban revolutionary slogan “Homeland or death.”

As lively as Cuban culture may be, Cuba has a zombie regime. Officials no longer believe in Fidel and Raul Castro’s revolution. They may be proud Cubans, but few are Marxists. Many have children and grandchildren in the United States who migrated to America for a better life. The situation has seldom been so bad. Five percent of the country has fled over the past year, often flying visa-free to Nicaragua to join the migrant caravans through Mexico to the southern border of the U.S. They leave, and those who remain have no faith in the troika of nonagenarians who run Cuba behind the scenes. For most Cubans, the government is a black box that is inaccessible and divorced from reality.