Cuba har et etparti [[Autoritarisme|autoritært]] regime, hvor en [[opposition|politisk opposition]] ikke er tilladt.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Levitsky|first1=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZDI05p1PDgC|title=Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War|last2=Way|first2=Lucan A.|date=2010-08-16|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49148-8|pages=361–363}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lachapelle|first1=Jean|last2=Levitsky|first2=Steven|last3=Way|first3=Lucan A.|last4=Casey|first4=Adam E.|date=2020|title=Social Revolution and Authoritarian Durability|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/social-revolution-and-authoritarian-durability/B62A931E63978E8B8466225EC123D2A9|journal=World Politics|volume=72|issue=4|pages=557–600|doi=10.1017/S0043887120000106|s2cid=225096277|issn=0043-8871}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hawkins|first=Darren|date=2001|title=Democratization Theory and Nontransitions: Insights from Cuba|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/422443|journal=Comparative Politics|volume=33|issue=4|pages=441–461|doi=10.2307/422443|jstor=422443|issn=0010-4159}}</ref> Der afholdes valg i Cuba, men de betragtes ikke som demokratiske.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Galvis|first1=Ángela Fonseca|last2=Superti|first2=Chiara|date=2019-10-03|title=Who wins the most when everybody wins? Predicting candidate performance in an authoritarian election|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2019.1629420|journal=Democratization|volume=26|issue=7|pages=1278–1298|doi=10.1080/13510347.2019.1629420|s2cid=197727359|issn=1351-0347}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Domínguez|first1=Jorge I.|last2=Galvis|first2=Ángela Fonseca|last3=Superti|first3=Chiara|date=2017|title=Authoritarian Regimes and Their Permitted Oppositions: Election Day Outcomes in Cuba|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-politics-and-society/article/abs/authoritarian-regimes-and-their-permitted-oppositions-election-day-outcomes-in-cuba/3F9E5B1A4EB059A316A9AB2BB0628216|journal=Latin American Politics and Society|volume=59|issue=2|pages=27–52|doi=10.1111/laps.12017|s2cid=157677498|issn=1531-426X}}</ref> Censur af information (inklusive begrænsning af internetadgang) er omfattende<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stein|first=Elizabeth Ann|date=2016|title=Information and Civil Unrest in Dictatorships|url=https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-35|website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.35|isbn=978-0-19-022863-7}}</ref><ref name="HRW-Cuba-III-1999">{{Cite book|date=juni 1999|title=Impediments to Human rights in Cuban Law (Part III)|url=https://archive.org/details/cubasrepressivem00huma|url-access=registration|access-date=7. august 2012|work=Cuba's Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution|publisher=Human Rights Watch|isbn=1-56432-234-3}}</ref><ref name="Michael C. Moynihan">{{Cite web|last=Moynihan|first=Michael C.|date=22. februar 2008|title=Still Stuck on Castro - How the press handled a tyrant's farewell|url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/125095.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120920/http://www.reason.com/news/show/125095.html|archive-date=20. september 2012|access-date=25. marts 2009}}</ref> og uafhængig og kritisk journalistik er undertrykt i Cuba;<ref>{{Cite web|date=3. oktober 2006|title=62nd General Assembly Reports: Cuba|url=http://www.sipiapa.com/v4/det_informe.php?asamblea=3&infoid=62&idioma=us|access-date=6. august 2012|publisher=Inter American Press Association}}</ref> [[Journalister uden grænser]] har karakteriseret Cuba som et de lande i verden med mindst pressefrihed.<ref name="Press Freedom Index 2015">[https://web.archive.org/web/20150212093137if_/http://index.rsf.org/#!/ "Press Freedom Index 2015"], Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved 12 November 2015</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=2008|title=Press Freedom Index 2008|url=http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/cl_en_2008.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303221403/http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/cl_en_2008.pdf|archive-date=2009-03-03|publisher=Reporters Without Borders}}</ref>
Politik