The US blockade of communist Cuba

When I was young and lived in Cuba I used to hear a lot about the “blockade”. The way the government put it, the blockade was real for me. I saw it as a bunch of US ships hovering just over the horizon, trying to stop the flow of products we hard working Cubans were trying to export.

So, as life in Fidel´s worker´s paradise became more unbearable, I decided to leave. Being young and innocent, I felt I could swim all the way to one of those yankee imperialist ships I just knew had to be somewhere out there.

Yankee Imperialist Ships (Wikipedia) 

Imagine my disappointment when my dad explained my US fleet was imaginary, because there was no real blockade. He explained what the US had used was called an embargo, the damn yankee imperialists had refused to trade with us…. and there were no ships.

I had already learned the government was both repressive and stupid. But I hadn´t realized much of what the government said was plain and simple lies. After I escaped, I got educated, and I had the opportunity to discuss Cuba with communists elsewhere. The funny thing is these guys seem to believe the imaginary US fleet is still sitting out there, hovering over the horizon, and waiting to stop all those goods hard working Cubans can produce in such large quantities.

Hard working Cubans producing export goods (Boston.com)

Written as a follow up comment to a post by Yoani you can read below: 

Carlito´s Body Language

A Cuban government supporter made the usual comment about the "yankee imperialist blockade", and I couldn´t help writing a quick answer.