I'll be honest, I don't know enough about Cuba to know whether or not it deserves the label. I've seen first accounts of events supporting both views, that Cuba is on path to a society exempt from exploitation and that it's ruled by an oppressive elite that uses the aesthetic of Marxism to fool the population.

If you have any suggestions on how to learn more I'd appreciate it.

And yes "authoritarianism" is reductive of all interactions in a political system, we agree on that