Is Cuba on the Rise?

Imagine Havana with billboards advertising competitive prices on repairs for cars. Imagine those cars are not 1950s Chevys but the newest models off a US assembly line. Imagine those same cars lining up at a McDonalds takeout window. For many Cubans who have lived their entire lives “making do” in a nation without industry and entrepreneurial opportunity, this latest fissure of reform is seismic—for better or worse. But most observers say any opening, even after the 84-year-old Castro is gone, would most probably follow a Chinese model that tolerates a degree of free market with a heavy government hand.