what's BAD about democracy(for once)?

[Raistlin]

The fact that you can type this stuff apparently seriously amuses me.

Great research, you say, but as late as 2000, Cuba was ineffectively treating their drinking water. But who needs drinking water, adequate housing, and free access to basic goods when we can have advancements in the biomedical industry?

Cuba's only making headway in that singular department because it has totalitarian control of the economy. It's analogous to WWII Soviet Russia, when the Soviet Union had a huge industrial surge. But every other aspect of the country suggested horrible living conditions. Cuba's not as extreme as the Soviet Union, but it is similar. It boasts great living conditions, and points to the free health care as proof, but the veneer is belied by the fact that thousands flee the country in tiny rafts ever year to struggle to come to the US where they have a chance at freedom. People fled East Berlin, too.

EDIT: While looking up the CIA Factbook, I also found this article, which I love very much.