Another capitalist W. Cuba goes into war time economy.

Pretty much every commie country except for Yugoslavia survived on Soviet welfare

They were a pretty interesting mercenary state for international communism, They started fighting Colonial Portugal and Israel and ended with the Soviet's sent them to help Communist Ethiopians smash the Communist Somalis. They were always reliant of Soviet subsidies and sugarmaxxed

By 1969, the worsening state of the Cuban economy became the critical variable in relations between Havana and Moscow. The turning point was reached with the 1970 sugar harvest—the audacious attempt to produce a record-breaking ten million tons of sugar, known as the "Zafra de los diez millones"—the sugar cane harvest of ten million [tons]. Speaking to students at the University of Havana in September 1969, Carlos Rafael explained the great importance vested in the harvest. Achieving ten million tons of sugar, he declared, would be Cuba's "second national liberation." Castro, in his push for the record harvest, also focused on the more pragmatic economic benefits such a momentous achievement would have. He exclaimed that if the 1970 zafra reached ten million tons, "there would be an absolute abundance of food, more clothes, more shoes, and better communications. The services will continue to improve, and the years of the next decade would not be the same as the previous ones." This was a paramount goal for Cuban leaders as they sought to rectify the country's economic problems and overcome its underdevelopment. But the attempt failed, despite an enormous effort involving Cuba's entire workforce. In the process, it nearly wrecked the national economy, as all available resources were concentrated on the sugar harvest, leaving the service sectors and industry seriously neglected and essentially negating Cuba's previous efforts to balance agriculture and the other sectors of the economy.

In the first half of the 1980s, Cuba's integration with the other CMEA member-states continued to deepen. In 1983 alone, 87 percent of Cuba's foreign trade was with the CMEA, with sugar accounting for 75 percent of the country's total exports.

The CMEA "transformations" culminated in the organization's dissolution in mid-1991, six months before the Soviet Union disintegrated. The impact of the crisis caused the Cuban gross domestic product (GDP) to decline by 34.8 percent from 1990 to1993. Imports decreased by 75 percent, the annual fiscal deficit rose to 33 percent, and the money supply increased to 66 percent of GDP, yielding enormous inflationary pressures.

They survived by leeching Venezuela after Chavez rose to power. Ever since Venezuela collapsed 12 years ago they've gone to shit again.