Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- In the '90s a certain joke became very popular in the streets and homes of Cuba. It began with Pepito -- the mischievous boy of our national humor -- and told how his teacher, brandishing a photo of the U.S. president, launches into a harsh diatribe against him. "The man you see here is the cause of all our problems, he has plunged this island into shortages and destroyed our productivity, he is responsible for the lack of food and the collapse of public transport," the teacher says. After these fierce accusations the teacher points to the face in the photo and asks her most wayward student, "Do you know who this is?" Smiling, Pepito replies, "Oh yes, ... I know him, it's just that without his beard I didn't recognize him."
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While Castro regime blames U.S. for Cuba's ills, many Cubans blame regime
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Sanchez: Cuban politics depends greatly on U.S. presidential elections
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Sanchez: Whoever wins the race to the White House will find Cuba in a state of change
The joke reflects, to a large measure, the polarization of national opinion with regard to our economic difficulties and the restrictions on citizens' rights that characterize the current @placeholder system.