Well, Cubans are among the best-educated Americans, thanks to the state-run education system, the obverse of its fabled success with public health. But the Soviet collapse destroyed an economy already shattered by the US embargo. As Cubans say, Castristas redressed socio-economic inequality by making everybody poor. Ironically, Fidel wasn’t formally a communist when his revolution succeeded. He imposed communism on Cuba after the Soviets saved that revolution.