Imagine the grand opening of a fancy rooftop lounge in a high-rise, with the whole city watching. Suddenly, the building implodes at the party’s peak, killing all in attendance. Why? Because instead of investing in concrete foundations, the architects splurged on Rolexes, Gucci bags, and an endless supply of champagne for the elite’s celebration.

What if, in the wake of this disaster, those responsible tried to shift the blame for the tragedy onto the people who could have sold them better concrete? That would be nonsensical, right? Well, that’s essentially what just happened to Cuba’s power grid.

In the past few weeks, one of the island’s largest and most dilapidated power plants finally reached its breaking point, causing a total blackout in 90% of the country.

For almost five days, Cubans had no electricity, limited Internet, running water, and barely any access to essential services. For five days, the corrupt communist regime’s epic financial incompetence and negligence were on full display for the world to see.

The island’s unelected president, Miguel Díaz-Canel — heir to Castro’s communist plantation — was forced to shut down schools, suspend work, and halt all non-essential operations to contain the unfolding disaster.

Naturally, he took to state-controlled TV to do damage control, blaming the U.S. embargo -or the few Helms-Burton Act restrictions left in place by now- for the energy disaster in the country. (It’s unclear who he thought he was talking to, as the entire island was dark.)

The truth behind Cuba’s power crisis runs deeper than a broken generator. It’s a direct result of over 60 years of failed policies and chronic financial mismanagement. This is a crash course in Econ 101: A centralized economy that believes in “robbing Peter to pay Paul” will always collapse under its own weight.

Cuba’s power system relies on aging, poorly maintained, and overexploited thermoelectric plants fueled by high-sulfur crude that corrodes machinery even faster. Add to this a mass exodus of qualified energy professionals and the government’s refusal to invest in infrastructure, and it’s no wonder that scheduled blackouts have been a way of life for Cubans since 1959.

Blackouts were “business as usual” for the 27 years of my life I lived in Cuba, and still are for 11 million people left on the island.

While ordinary citizens have been left in the dark despite consistently low occupancy rates, Díaz-Canel’s government has funneled over $2 billion into building new luxury hotels and refurbishing tourist resorts in Varadero and Cayo Coco.

It is worth noting that every hotel and resort in Cuba is owned by the government and operated by GAESA (Grupo de Administracion Empresarial, its official name in Spanish). This military-run conglomerate controls 70% of the island’s economy. They are the ones who own and run the country, as a government monopoly with zero accountability and lining their pockets with hard currency is, undoubtedly, Diaz-Canel’s main priority.

Let’s put it in perspective: Economists argue that with the funds spent on these tourist resorts, Cuba could have built seven to eight brand-new power plants, each generating 200 megawatts, effectively solving the country’s energy crisis. But that has never been on the top of the to-do list of the Cuban government, who are content to let their citizens suffer in darkness.

However you assess the government’s motives, there is no disputing its financial negligence. This isn’t the first time they have squandered billions. Between 2006 and 2009, Russia extended a €1.2 billion loan with favorable terms specifically for energy infrastructure. All Cuba had to do was provide a 10% down payment. They couldn’t come up with that money, and the deal quietly fell apart. State media barely mentioned this until independent journalists uncovered it years later.

No amount of embargo blame-shifting or discounted oil from Venezuela and Mexico can mask the reality of Cuba’s financial mismanagement. This is a prime lesson in why socialism fails, no matter how it’s rebranded or sold to younger generations around the world.

Citizens around the world, especially the generations born after the Berlin Wall fell, could use this disaster as a perfect learning example of why the only thing socialism achieves is the equal redistribution of misery.

Capitalism and a free-market economy are the only moral systems that allow mankind to innovate, thrive, and, frankly, keep the lights on.

The fictional high-rise imploding scene is sobering.

However, the party, military, and government elites in Cuba are always unscathed, both in reality and imaginary scenes.

Millions of Cuban citizens went without power for days, yet the party elites, military, and government officials’ access to power, running water, internet, and other services remained untouched. This is the humanitarian crisis nobody wants to discuss — and the communist government is solely responsible.