Reader Charles, whom I met in Chicago in my second job after graduating college, suddenly reached out about events in Cuba.

Hello Mish 

It is not just Havana. This is no Tiananmen Square. Here are videos from all over the island. Finally, it's OK to say that the emperor has no clothes. 

For years, when Cuban-Americans visited their relatives in Cuba, they noted there was near-universal private disgust with the corrupt Castro regime. But there was also universal fear of its efficient and ruthless secret police and the honeycomb of regime spies throughout the society. So everyone kept quiet.

American tourists were escorted to Potemkin villages by Communist Party guides and special hotels open only to foreigners and staffed by Party members. All who tell the Americans how everyone is really committed to the Revolution.

And the US press, by and large, has bought the story, blaming Cuba's troubles on the US embargo – even though no other country embargoes Cuba – rather than the corrupt system which squelches capitalism and favors the 5% who are Party members, whether they work or not.

The protesters are NOT protesting shortages and price increases, as much of the US mainline media sympathetic to the regime are reporting. Those who understand Spanish can hear that they are chanting "Liberty!" And "end the dictatorship." They are protesting the whole terrible system. 

Who knows if this will last Already, there are reports of dissenters "disappearing." But it will be great if the great US left-wing alliance with these dictators is exposed and, with luck, broken.