Good things came out of this. The embargo prevented cuba from becoming the world's best experiment in total communism but it instead made Cuba the best and ONLY experiment in creating a sustainable "green" civilization. There is no other place on earth where this has been reproduced for an entire society in a way that works.
The Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund in 2007 identified Cuba as the only sustainable country in the world. The study involved two key parameters for measuring sustainable development, a commitment to "improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems". Cuba was the ONLY country on earth to achieve satisfactory benchmarks in both criteria for sustainable development.
You have to see it to believe it. Every inch of rooftop in Cuba is basically an urban/organic farm. Essentially Cuba represents the best possible outcome when modern society finally runs out of gasoline.