Have you read about the "denial" aspect of the whole thing. Some newspapers or news services report one thing and the Cuban government or his relatives say he is on the mend. Absurd.
I'm hoping Cuba will be a democracy or some facsimile thereof within the next 5 to 20 years. I grew up in a predominately white neighborhood but the Hispanic faction that was there was largely Cuban as opposed to Mexican (and this is in LA, so that's kind of weird). So, I went to a Catholic school that had a lot of Cuban kids and a lot of my friends were Cuban. I would have to say my best childhood friend was Cuban.
I would love to someday go over there and walk through the streets their parents walked, savoring the sights, sounds and smells. Cuban people are wonderfully theatrical and mercurial and I find them similar to Italians in this regard. They've also great a great spirit. Many had to flee Cuba in a hurry, leaving behind their properties and wealth, only to prosper again in the U.S. (I would venture to say Cubans have the highest educational attainment of the Hispanic peoples and are more apt to vote Republican).
At any rate, the vacuum part Carbiz speaks of is tough. Being that it is essentially in the Americas and predominately Christian, I doubt that the upheval will look anything like we see in the Middle East. In the end, it will be a better place and, who knows, we might be able to vacation there someday.