No question about that.
The interesting thing however is that the massive progress Cuba has undergone the past few decades regarding poverty, education (especially literacy), or health is ignored pretty much entirely by western media. In these issues, the success of Cuba is unparalleled in any other Latinamerican country. I am not defending their authoritarian approach in any way, but the fact is that the picture that is painted of Cuba (similarly to China in that matter) is extremely unbalanced and unobjective.
Just a few figures, their literacy rate is 99%, life expectancy 79 years, their infant mortality rate is on par with the one of the EU (4,7). Concerning their economic situation, they had a devastating recession 1990-1993 due to Soviet aid suddenly ceasing to exist along with its donor, but since then they've enjoyed a steady increase in their GDP, and were left relatively unscathed by the 2008 financial crisis, compared to other latinamerican countries or even Europe or the US. The Human Poverty Index of the UN has unfortunately ceased to exist in 2006 (why I don't know), but until then, Cuba fared extremely well there too.