![](https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Batista-DS.jpg)
1. Batista first came to power in Cuba by being elected to office. He ran as head of the Democratic Socialist party, a coalition supported also by the Cuban Communist Party. The image is of an election poster.
(History lesson: Beware of democratic socialists. They’re often wolves in sheep’s clothing.)
![](https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Socialism-trade.jpg)
2. The US-embargo means there is exactly one country in the world Cuba can’t trade with. There are 194 other countries it’s free to trade with — and does with many of them.
(Economics lesson: Cuba is poor because it is socialist. Period.)