If you want to conduct an experiment to test just how far human defense mechanisms such as repression and rationalization can distort reality, follow these three easy steps:

1) Locate a subject who is convinced that the US is the most repressive totalitarian country in the world and that Cuba is where it is at. Look for terms such as, "healthcare", "literacy rates"...etc.

Note: The easiest place to find the appropriate subject(s) for this experiment is in the Social Science or Humanities departments of your local University. They can also be readily located at trendy coffee shops just off campus as well.

2) Ask the subject the following question: "If Cuba is such an egalitarian paradise and the US is so corrupt and repressive, then why do hundreds of (supposedly blissful) Cubans risk their lives every year seeking political asylum on US soil in overloaded homemade boats, but not the other way around?"

3) Observe reaction.

Last summer term my department (philosophy) was holding a three day summer seminar from a guest lecturer entitled "Cuba: Repressive Dictatorship or Island Paradise?" Even though my summer job was an hour away I signed up for it just so I could make trouble...much as outlined above. However, Castro saved me the trouble by jailing several dozen political dissidents and forcing the instructor to cancel the seminar.

Of course, the fact that she felt the need to cancel the seminar in light of such actions quite betrays her own opinion on the matter. I suppose it would have been uncomfortable to argue that Cuba is an "Island Paradise" when the "Repressive Dictatorship" aspect rears its ugly head so publicly.

I'd never set foot on communist-controlled Cuban soil, embassy or otherwise. Unless I decide to put on the Marine uniform again, then I might have to reconsider.

Castro's greatest victory was in convincing us to wait until his death before helping Cuba clean up his mess.

How about a Jeffrey Dahmer Dinner? He was "misunderstood," too.

Especially in the culinary area.

To be fair, in 2002 our effete literati - Chomsky, Sontag, Doctorow - discovered that some people in Cuba were 'oppressed' & issued a public letter to Castro telling him to kewl it.

In his autobiography, Before Night Falls, Reinaldo Arenas writes how Cuban writers despised Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who would fly in on Castro's private jet & appear at rallies for the glory of socialism, while real Cuban writers were in prison or under house arrest or enduring show trials or forced to sign confessions

En Cuba los presos de la conciencia no están en la tarjeta de la danza.

Jason:

That's easy.

All the people who are seeking to escape Cuba are:

1. Criminals.
2. Anti-social elements. (This will include the claim that these are all people who were all Batista-ites---which at this point has got to be as rare as genuine "pre-embargo" Cuban cigars are in the US.)
3. Seduced/misled by the lies of the US.
4. Racists (b/c Castro has elevated the darker parts of Cuban society).

The only question is how rapidly they come up w/ these answers---but in my own experience, the more experienced the Lefty, the more rapidly they come up w/ this set of responses.

Cuba is very misunderstood.
With all the mis-and dis-information out there many people don't realize what a hellhole it is.