Originally posted by James
After Castro's rebels removed Batista, he instituted huge social changes, such as the building of schools, hospitals, roads, and other public service systems.

I'll admit that Castro has done some good things, but if it's such a paradise over there then why do we have people drowning in their little rafts off the coast of Florida?

The Russians saw that their "implementation" of communism was going down the tubes, and they wanted Cuba to be the new model state. Most of the projects you mentioned were started and financed by Russians, so we can't really give Castro all the credit anyway.

Compared to Castro, Batista was no saint. But look at it this way, if Castro hadn't come along, Batista would have probably died in a few years and they'd have a democratic government by now. We could all enjoy cheap airfares to La Havana from Miami, and the Cuban people would benefit from our money. They have great beaches in Cuba by the way . . .

One other thing - yeah, their education system is great and they have free universities. But like I said, people can make more money working for the tourists, so why would they want to go through all the trouble of becoming an engineer or a doctor?

Originally posted by educatedfilm
their health system is meant to be great, and their life expectancy better than here in the UK

Everything is "meant" to be great, but that doesn't mean that it is. I'm sure that the health system is very good for certain people, like those in the government and Castro's buddies, but everyone else is in squalor.

By the way, the reason for their long life expectancy is that only a few people, the rich, have cars. Everyone else has to walk or ride their bikes.

Originally posted by Bardsley
...but the response by Jame and Educatedfilm suggests that I wasn't making up the statement, and it seems that many people do actually thinkt he health system is good.

Just because people like Ed think it's good doesn't mean that it is good.