[abreu]

> I want them to develop of course.

Here is the thing: Cuba used to be 'developed'. Pre 95 Cuban workers earned an average salary of $6, ranking number 8 in the world, just behind Norway ($6.10). Infant mortality was the lowest in the Americas. In fact, Cuba ranked third in the world. Public health was comparable to any considered developed country of the time (e.g one hospital bed per 190 inhabitants vs one per 200 inhabitants in the US).

Contrary to what many believe, Cuban industry was not controlled by US interests. Au contraire, only 14% of investments in Cuba came from the US. The vast majority of industry was owned by Cubans, that is the sugar, tobacco and rum industry.

These truths will become more evident with time as the romanticism surrounding Castro's revolution fades away and it's opponents get louder. When Fidel said 'History will absolve me', he was right. History will put him where he belongs: under the chapter 'Plague of Cuba'.

It is safe to believe that much of this can be attributed to what you refer to as 'US capitalism'. It was partly the idea of American-style economic development and democratic freedom that fueled Cuban independence from Spain. Spanish strict trade laws made life very difficult for Cubans, and this became specially evident under the short lived British rule of Havana, and later the evident advances in almost every aspect happening in North America.

> Cubans lacks some products but they are not poor

Yes, Cubans are poor. Why should they settle for merely enough to eat, when they should be eating hamburgers and bacon on a daily basis considering how fertile Cuban land is. Pre 59 Cuba had a meat consumption comparable to that of the US. Today cattle is so scarce it had to be imported to have any cattle population at all. In fact, you can get 10 years in prison for killing a caw in Cuba today.

> world's cuisine so rich that its a pity that certain food take over local

You can have any of the world's cuisine in the US. In fact, today, the best Cuban food is found in Florida. I was told by a NYC friend of mine that he had a Cuban-Chinese restaurant a few blocks away. In Cuba Cuban-Chinese food is nonexistent today. The scarcity created by socialism has changed Cuban cuisine significantly (in a bad direction). It is also safe to say that the best Italian and French food is made in the US (I can attest :-)).

This whole cuisine diversity argument is really insubstantial.

[victornomad]

I understand and respect your points but I still think it is just a western/us-centric vision of the world. Things can be seen from many angles.

[abreu]

> western/us-centric vision of the world

Cuba is 'Western'. Unless you are thinking in terms of first/third/developing countries. In that case, as I've suggested, Cuba was richer than Spain and Italy pre 59. Today that's not the case. Nevertheless, it is a really vague classification. I can arguably say that the French see the world at least slightly different from Americans.

'Marxism' is Western. As the Cuban poet Jose Marti said (this is my own broken translation): 'The socialist solutions, born of European ills, have nothing to cure in the Amazon.' (That is, socialism has nothing to do in the Americas).

Cubans have no goals different to what you consider 'western/us': Eat well, proper housing, transport, culture, education, and so on. And in this the Fidel revolution has completely failed. There are many indicators that suggest Cuba would have fared better without the intervention of Fidel's revolution. That's the whole point. The ruling regime is responsible for the terrible state of Cuban society and after so many years certainly illegitimate to continue in power.