paddysnuffles:

Yo, I lived in Santiago de Cuba for 4 months. I had a Cuban ID card and everything.

Let me tell you a bit about life in Cuba:

• Their cars are still running for the most part. They now also have some newer cars manufactured from China.
• Kids in rural areas get a great education. By rural areas, I mean “middle of nowhere, dirt roads only horses can get through (no cars)”. They even got cute school uniforms and everything.
• Rural areas have food, running water, and electricity. If you’re from any other Third World country, you know how insanely amazing that is.
• A friend of mine has a 3-year-old daughter who has a heart valve defect. If he lived outside of Cuba, she’d likely be dead, because he could in no way afford the expensive medical care. Instead, she has free access to some of the best doctors in the world, and the government even pays for her trips to the opposite side of the island to see specialists.
• I was asked by the maid who cleaned the house I stayed at why I wore glasses instead of just getting laser eye surgery. I had to explain to her that I couldn’t afford it. “So why don’t you just apply for the government to pay?”
  
• Everyone is guaranteed a minimum food allowance every month.
  
• Everyone is guaranteed free education, including university.
  
• I’ve met a sugarcane plantation worker who could afford to buy a plane ride. Why was he going on a plane ride? To go to his daughter’s graduation from medical school. In contrast, when I was little I was at a party where a little girl saw a plane fly overhead and said: “One day I’m gonna go in one of those” and all the adults burst out laughing because there was no way anyone in her family could ever afford such a thing.
  
• Cuba used to have a less than 40% literacy rate. Within literally 2 years of the revolution, they had a 90% literacy rate. That’s because the government sent out student teachers with schoolbooks and lanterns way out to the boonies to teach people how to read and write. I met one of the women who did this.
  
• University students in Cuba couldn’t comprehend that when we said that other countries let their citizens starve and die of curable illnesses we meant that literally. “Like, they can’t die, they have their food allowance!” “No, there’s no food allowance.” “But what happens if you can’t afford food?” “You die.” “…But– But taking care of people is the government’s job. They can’t just let their citizens die.” “But they do.” “BUT IT’S THE GOVERNMENT.” “I KNOW.”

Is Cuba perfect? Of course not. But it’s sure a lot better than a lot of places. It sure is a lot better than the US.

Don’t go ragging on Cuba without knowing what you’re talking about.