Castro's reign was pretty marked with attempted coups, assassinations, and outright invasion. You know, the standard cold war experience.
The whole 'make life as hard as possible so the people have no choice but overthrow their government' strategy hasn't really been effective. Ever.
It was effective in Syria last month, after a decade (really several decades) of effort and hundreds of billions of dollars. All you gotta do is infinitely fund and arm ~~terrorists~~ “moderate rebels” and Bob’s your uncle.
What has been effective is the strategy of "make life as hard as possible on Cubans so most Americans will look at Cuba and think communism doesn't work."
Yep, and people think it's silly that North Koreans hate the US that starved them through sanctions, committed genocide, and dropped more tons of bombs on it than the entire Pacific Front.
I visited Cuba some months ago. Amazing what they can and have done better than supposedly "first world" countries like the US in terms of healthcare, houselessness, etc. Of course they also have many issues but almost all of them can be traced to the blockade.
The blockade is utterly indefensible. A crime against humanity.
I'd love to visit one day, such a resiliant and kind people. They have trained doctors globally for decades for little to nothing in return.