Yes, because non-blockaded communist countries have been such glowing successes.
If a country directed by a party named the Communist party is not communist, who could claim that tag for themselves?
Not North Korea. A country frozen in time and obsessed by xenophobic purity, dictator worship, army and control of the citizens. This is the very own definition of dystopic fascism, bordering isolated religious cult. Definitely not communism, that always was a mixed bag of anarchists, misfits craving power and other undercurrents moving in similar directions before turning ameboid and splitting again or eating alive the other groups.
Russia? is very "capitalism of the mob" now. As US, is just too big to define it, but it definitely has components of Neofeudalism and tug dictatorship IMHO with several thin layers of shiny democracy put strategically over it to cover the ugly rust. Communism has influenced the society, but is a thing of the past now (probably, I could be wrong).
We'll never know what Cuba could have become in normal circumstances. Is not fair to expect shiny results when everybody is boycotting your economy for decades or trying to murder the president all the time.
If we learn something about this strategy is that validates and reinforces the government after creating a situation of "keep the power at any cost or we will kill you". The same error has happened in Siria for example.
Personal freedom and democracy are both weasel words, by the way. Liberal personal freedom is based on the idea that only negative rights are valid (except when they are necessary to enforce the violent relations of the existing system, of course), for no reason besides the fact that it legitimized a property-based system of politics and power.
That is, you don't have the personal freedom to walk where you want, but you do have the personal freedom to kill people that walk on the land you gained through theft and theft profiteering, for some reason.
As for democracy, you have the choice between two people - primaries aren't constitutionally required and can be done however the last guy to win the primary thinks they should be done - which both are funded by the same set of donors. Which is why there is no statistically significant correlation between the will of the demos and that of the kratos.
Not in some aspects that we correctly criticize in communist countries but accept as perfectly okay in friend countries. If freedom is the definition of success, we could take a look to the countries with highest ratio of their population jailed. Be prepared for a nasty surprise, they are not exactly communists. Not at all...
And in my family there was a history of persecution during Stalin time, surviving Holodomor, so I know these things first hand. I don't need lecturing on what went wrong from Westerners.
And what about immense suffering after 1991? - Ethic conflicts, absolutely atrocious poverty, would have been much worse if not for some remnants of socialist safety net (de-facto free healthcare). The new capitalist society was not exactly a much of improvement on many areas.
For example in 1993 Boris Eltsin (president of Russia) ordered shelling of Parliament by tanks. And that was fine with the West. Somehow.