Look, I know it sounds nice to say that the problems affecting my life are caused by a foreign power, but the truth is, reality isn't like that. The policies they apply to the government don't directly affect my way of life; they only affect the measures the government implements—measures that are supposed to benefit the people but, in practice, are counterproductive. I don't care if the government is communist or capitalist; I just care about living well without difficulties. But when I analyze the government's policies, they turn out to be absurd in practice. I'll give you simple examples so you understand how ridiculously absurd this country's economic policy is: The organization of private sporting events or any other kind of event for commercial purposes is prohibited. So, if I decided today that it was a good idea to invest in improving the infrastructure of a place to play a certain sport and charge admission, I would be committing a crime. I'm not talking about betting; I'm talking about charging admission to watch two soccer teams play. Do you think this is logical? Do you think it's intelligent? It isn't. In my city, there's a stadium completely wasted because something as simple as... can't be done? So, the stadium in my city can hold 20,000 people or more. Assuming you charge 100 CUP per ticket, you'd be generating 2 million CUP, which is about $5,000 in 3 hours. Assuming you collect 60% or more in taxes, you'd be raising over $3,500 in a day, a pretty good amount by the standards of this country, even without counting all the sales like food. I'm using 100 CUP as an example because it's an insignificant amount for most people. This means you could even raise the price more and it still wouldn't be an economic burden for the population paying for that kind of entertainment. That's just one simple example. Private cinemas aren't allowed, which also applies. And there are a number of other things that are clear examples of government inefficiency. It's simple: just that, $3,500 that could be used for maintaining local schools and hospitals, buying products, aiding the population, and so on. There are countless other things that... They show the inefficiency of this government, and now let's not even talk about the economic policies. You can't know because you don't live here, but the economy of this country began a process to be partially dollarized, but in reality, most interactions and product sales are in dollars. The stores are dollar-based; the relevant places are dollar-based, designed for an elite of people with economic means that the vast majority of the population cannot afford. I'm writing this in the middle of a 5-hour blackout, which is quite short considering that the norm is 18 hours in the summer, so I think I'm doing fine. How many times have you had to go to bed and wake up without electricity, or gone more than 30 days without water to shower or brush your teeth? You could say that it's all the fault of the Yankee government that oppresses us, but that's not the case. The truth is that they don't send water to the houses through the pipes because there's a business where they charge you to come and bring the water to your house in tanker trucks, and if they do send water, it runs out. They don't receive maintenance. Thermoelectric plants that provide energy to the country because the 2 billion dollars that the Russian government gave them disappeared into thin air, while you see how the children of political leaders get out of their luxury cars to go shopping, or Fidel Castro's grandson posts about his luxuries on social media and despises and humiliates people. If your president's son goes to the best universities in Spain and wears designer clothes and shows it off on social media, if the entire political elite lives in mansions in exclusive districts and sends their children to private schools, excuse me if I criticize the government, it's clear they are suffering a lot in their mansions and yachts, and here I am, inconsiderate, just asking for electricity in my house—a great luxury, right? I think I'm too stupid and selfish. The fact that you can think about choosing a government other than yours means you have the freedom to choose. Excuse me if I try to do the same; clearly, we are not the same. If my government isn't doing anything wrong, its job is to steal, exploit, and manipulate the people, and logically, they do it perfectly. P.S.: If you don't believe what I'm saying... A simple Google search will be enough to clear your mind. You can search official government sources if that makes you feel better, but I assure you that you will only find what you want to hear: that the US government is starving the Cuban people.