As you said of Batista: It's the old "He's a son of a bitch but he's our son of a bitch" like Saddam. A tough guy that gets things under control then gets corrupt.

Yeah, that sounds pretty likely to me. That's what usually happens. Castro's one great sin, you see, was that he threw out the rich American commercial concerns in Cuba...thus he wasn't seen as "our man" by Washington. If he hadn't done that, I'm sure he would have been quite acceptable to the USA, and he would have taken over from Batista and nothing much would have changed in Cuba. They would have remained a Caribbean center of gambling, prostitution, drug trading, and a cheap, illiterate labour force for big American tobacco and sugar companies.

They still make damn good cigars, I hear. And very inexpensive rum. ;-)

You can live nicely on $400/year in Cuba. You wouldn't believe how cheap stuff is down there...as long as it's locally made stuff.