That's a step in the right direction, if true. Do you have a source for it? This older article [0] says:
President Raul Castro said the regime will still decide who can renew or obtain passports. The government will protect "human capital" in its decision-making, and travel can be denied for "national security reasons."
Those deemed necessary to the Cuba socialist revolution — professionals such as doctors, scientists and engineers — can be prevented from departing. The "national security" clause worries some opposition figures.
[0] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/11/cuba-ex...
That's an understatement.
> controls on who can obtain passports are sadly the norm in the entire world
These restrictions are far from "the norm in the entire world".
Source? To prevent goalpost-moving, the restrictions we're referring to are:
The government will protect "human capital" in its decision-making, and travel can be denied for "national security reasons." Those deemed necessary to the Cuba socialist revolution — professionals such as doctors, scientists and engineers — can be prevented from departing.
No, not the same thing at all. Forcibly stopping your citizens from leaving your country altogether is not the same thing as another country stopping them from entering theirs.
Communist countries have historically implemented strict emigration policies [0]. For example, East Germany famously had a policy of mass-murdering citizens who tried to escape to the West [1].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_the_Eastern_Bl...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schießbefehl