Not another simplistic rose coloured glasses portrait of Castro and Cuba.
But when its all said and done I would much prefer to live in Cuba than that hell-hole called Haiti.

According to the UN Human Development Index, Cuba ranks 51st out of 177 countries. The US ranks 12th.

* On GDP per capita (in international dollars) it ranks 94th ($6000 per head). The US is 2nd ($41,890)

* On average life expectancy at birth it is 32nd (77.7 years). The US is 31st (77.9 years).

* On literacy of the adult population it is 2nd (99.8% of the population. (US no data).

* On combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio it is 35th (87.6%). The US is 19th (93.3)

* On the Gender Development Index, which measures female life expectancy, adult literacy and combined enrolment as a percentage of the male figure, Cuba ranks 2nd out of 156 countries. The US is 107th (down there with the UAE, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe).

* On the Human Poverty Index, Cuba ranks 6th out of 108 developing countries - it is ahead of Singapore (GDP p.c of $29,663 - not clear why they call that a developing country since it's income is higher than Germany's!). The US has no data.

In other words, on about one seventh of the US average income Cuba managed to produce health and educational outcomes that are equal to or very close to those of the USA. Compare with the Dominican Republic (HDI rank 79, GDP p.c. $8,217) or El Salvador (rank 89, GDP p.c $5,180)

Well put Lev. Thanks for the thoughtful article, James.

A discussion about Cuba, in which I participated, on John Quiggin's site in December 2006 may be of interest. It's at: http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2006/12/12/castro-and-pinochet/#comment-103920

Lev, on another question, it's a long time since my drupal site at http://candobetter.org looked like yours.

Cuba has such a quality health service, that there are 10,000 Cuban doctors working in developing countries.

Cuba offered the assistance of 2,000 Cuban doctors, during the New Orleans floods, they were turned down by the USA.

Lev, I copied your last post to this discussion:

http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2008/02/22/what-have-the-romans-ever-done-for-us/#comment-206723

I trust that that is OK with you.

Yeah, Castro's Cuba was in some ways ugly, but I always liked the way Fidel stuck it to the USA, not to mention that most Cubans are evidently doing quite well under that apparently awful regime.

And they still make the most incredible music...