For Castroism, the misery in which Cuba languishes is only 1% its responsibility. Everything else is the Americans' fault, according to calculations by the country's Energy and Economy ministers on national TV.
Translating it, we could say that for every 100 lines that Cubans stand in, 99 are the Yankees' fault; for every 100 hours without electricity, they'd only suffer one if it weren't for the Washington’s villainy; and for every 100 curable conditions that end in death today, 99 would be cured if everything were up the revolutionary Government.
But it's not up to them! But rather the Americans, right? Well, no.
US policy towards Cuba, however, is not a unilateral decision by the United States, but rather the result of a confrontation that Fidel Castro was set on even before taking power, as he confessed in an intimate letter to Celia Sánchez: "When this war ends, a much longer and bigger war will begin for me: the war that I'm going to launch against them," in reference to the United States.
Thus, the embargo, and the fact that Cuba is on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, are not tantrums or delusions produced by effluvia from the Potomac River, but rather the consequence of a confrontation for which two sides are responsible. The Cuban Government cannot dissociate itself from the consequences of its bellicose anti-American policies.
Although Castroism speaks of the embargo with an accusing finger perpetually pointed at the north, as if referring to an inevitable cold front for which it bears no responsibility, and has no power over whatsoever, the reality is that maintaining the dispute with the United States is a choice made by Cuba's rulers every morning, aware of the price that Cubans will pay for it.
Nobody forces Castroism to ally with North Korea, Iran, Syria, the FARC, the ELN and others who kill, invoking their respective revolutions to justify it. It is Havana's decision to uphold and spotlight its relationship with Russia, one bordering on a kind of conspicuous groveling, precisely when it is at war with the West. And if they can be seen trembling with glee whenever they act as an international megaphone for the most vociferous anti-Americanism, what could they expected but animosity? What one sows...
And it is not a question of sovereignty, or kowtowing, but rather of that reality that Castroism itself describes when it claims that 99% of Cuba's problems are caused by the Americans. If this is true, should it not be the first priority of every Cuban government to placate that "wild and brutal monster?" Instead, they have been throwing oil on the fire for 64 years, and then complaining about the heat.
If it were true —which it is not— that 99% of Cuban problems are Made in the US, it would also be true that the Castro regime is guilty for not doing what would be its first obligation: seeking harmony with an invincible enemy that is, supposedly, responsible for so much evil.
But, of course, when you live like a millionaire it is easy to ask the people to keep up the struggle, to endure a thousand more lines, to put up with countless blackouts, sweltering amidst sweat and mosquitoes, to drown their infinite daily frustrations with undrinkable liquor - starting with that perennial feeling that life passes by without ever being able to really live.
It makes sense for Castroism to provoke enmity, friction and the embargo, and to remain on the list of sponsors of terrorism. It makes sense because this can be wielded to justify the misery that its system inflicts on its people, as it waves the flag, claiming to be a besieged victim, thus treating any political dissident as an enemy and traitor. Above all, this blockade, which blocks so little, behooves it, as it prevents ambulances from passing, but not persecutors; it slows the development of agriculture, but not of hotels.
Let's be clear: a portion of Cuba's problems is the total responsibility of the Cuban government and the totalitarian system on which it is based. And the other problems? Those too!