Never assume that the people you're debating with are insane or stupid, Fat Albert. ;-) Real life doesn't work that way. It's not that easy.

If I had my choice of living in Cuba, Mexico or Canada, which do you think I would choose?

I'd choose Canada. It's safer, it's more prosperous, and it's more democratic.

If I had my choice of living in the USA or Canada, which do you think I'd choose? Easy. Canada. But I know both countries. I did live in the USA for 10 years. Canada's safer, more peaceful, and mainly just a whole lot nicer and saner as far as I'm concerned.

As I said before, Cuba is no Utopia. I don't know about crime being rampant there, but I've been in Trinidad, and it's far more dangerous on their streets than it is in Cuba. The lot of the poor is far worse in Mexico, Guatemala, and a lot of other places in Latin America than in Cuba. The Cubans do have medical care and they have education. The Cubans I met (and I met plenty) were well educated and highly motivated people. They looked good. They were slim, trim, and active. They had a lot of imagination.

The church translator there was a very smart guy. Freddy Gonzales. He came on a visit to Canada a couple of years ago for about 6 weeks, then went back. If it's so bad there, why didn't he seek refugee status here? He believes in the Cuban revolution, and as I said, he's a very smart man. And a good man. So why does he want to stay in Cuba if it's as terrible as you say it is?

I don't see it as being half as bad down there as you think it is. I think you are simply seeing what you want to see. Your mind was made up from the start.

But, hey, that's what people are like. They have opinions that they got from someone else they trusted (parents, teachers, politicians, newspapers, etc). They then run around for the rest of their life accumulating evidence to support their rock-solid opinions and totally disregard the rest.

Anyway, when did this become a thread about Cuba?