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The Cuban filmmaker and writer Eduardo del Llano published a text titled "Answers to the Most Stupid Questions I Get" this Saturday on his official Facebook page, where, with his characteristic irony, he argues that the U.S. embargo is "responsible for at least seventy percent of the difficulties facing the country."
The argument is not new: it is, in fact, the same one that the Cuban regime has been repeating for decades with remarkable consistency and little practical result for the people. Del Llano presents it, however, with more literary flair than Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The writer, who has defined himself as "independent, even from the independents", but tends to align quite closely with the official narrative, attributes the remaining 30% of the difficulties to "mistakes that have been made and continue to be made," although he is quick to clarify that these mistakes "are not inherent to the system, by the way." The system, then, remains exonerated. The mistakes hang in the air, without a name or a responsible party.
For those who ask him if he would agree to a plebiscite on communism, Del Llano has an elegant response: yes, but "if it is held twenty-five years after the lifting of the blockade." A condition that, given the pace of Cuban history, is roughly equivalent to never.
Regarding the accusations that he was bought, the author showcases his best sarcasm: “Oh yes, I was bought; I have that two-story mansion with a pool in Miramar, and every day they bring me a package of beef from the Central Committee.” The irony works, of course. Although in Cuba, where more than 90% of the population lost adequate access to food in 2025 and 25% go to bed hungry regularly, the joke about the beef might have a sharp edge that the author perhaps didn’t anticipate.
Del Llano also defends that communism "has worked" and that "it can work better," and he supports democratic elections, as long as they are "within socialism." Regarding an American intervention, his response is unequivocal: "If you don't like communism, take it down yourself. And if you can't or don't dare to, then don't be so cowardly as to want someone else to do it for you."
The controversial comedian avoids discussing, however, the systematic repression that the regime deploys whenever someone, within Cuba, attempts to change the system through peaceful means or even dares to express their opposition.
The reality of the Island does not seem to align well with Del Llano's post. The Cuban GDP fell by more than 5% in 2025, accumulating a contraction of over 15% since 2020, according to data from the Center for Cuban Economic Studies at the University of Havana itself, which describes the model as "exhausted" and lacking "levers for structural changes." The power outages left more than 200,000 Cubans without water, with electrical deficits reaching 1,945 MW in April 2026 and cuts lasting up to 24 uninterrupted hours. The dollar has comfortably surpassed the barrier of 500 pesos in the informal market.
Meanwhile, the Cuban regime exported tobacco for hundreds of millions of dollars in 2025 while the population queued for basic necessities. Ration cards, which last only about ten days, are "virtually useless" due to a lack of stock in state stores, according to data from January 2026.
Del Llano, who in July 2024 criticized the "monstrously excessive penalties" imposed on the protesters of 11J and the "brazen impudence of the continuity government," and who has sometimes been banned from Cuban television despite his leftist ideological coherence, is not a typical spokesperson for the regime. He has nuances, he has criticisms, he has talent. But when asked if he could be wrong about all of the above, he responds that as a "theoretical possibility, yes," with the same odds of "winning a Nobel Prize or starring in a musical film."
That certainty, so literary, so comfortable, is precisely the luxury that Cubans who have been surviving blackouts, scarcity, and repression for years cannot afford, while the system that "can work better" continues, with admirable patience, not working.
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