The people of Cuba have a high literacy rate and full access to health care. These are substantial achievements, ones our own society has not yet managed to deliver. Even the horse-drawn carts at the Cuban gas stations that you mentioned with such derision might not seem so terrible to the residents of our smog-choked inner cities.
[Ed.: The Wall Street Journal related the story of a Western visitor to Hanoi who enthusiastically told a Vietnamese official how wonderful it was to see people in such good shape from riding bicycles, breathing clear air in a pristine environment. The official replied wearily, 'You know, we could use some pollution.']
