Quote:

while these days it's so dirt-poor that it invites comparison with the Central African Republic -- or Burma.

Not really. According to that well known crypto communist publication, the CIA world factbook, GDP's per capita are as follows:

Cuba $4500
Burma $1900
Central African Republic $700

Don't they invite comparison?  With (say) other countries...like...Thailand?

Not to mention that I find it hard to put much confidence in numbers about Cuba.  They're like numbers about the USSR before the wall came down.

But -- really!  How could the inhabitants of Cuba be stuck with $4500 per YEAR unless there was some malignant cigar-chomping megalomaniac diverting all weath to himself?  Do you remember Forbes reporting Fidel as a near-billionaire...or did that fall through the Memory Hole as well.