IMO Cuba has nothing going for it except geography and sugar. - Sugar = historic / principle natural resource exports for FX to fund imports since island has not much else (except doctors) - Geography before USSR = next to US, good for USSR military posture -> support + handouts during cold war - Geography after USSR collapse = nice place to vacation, again FX to fund imports IIRC Castro pivoted from sugar to tourism…
As an American that went to Cuba for tourism during the Obama years, let me say, once you go to Cuba once you’ll decidedly go somewhere else after.