Cuba or Guatemala: which is worse for human rights?

**Tooting Carmen** · 08-26-2018, 01:33 AM

A serious, non-trollish question. Is it worse to be in a wholesale Communist dictatorship with little freedom of expression but where at least crime rates are low, everyone is guaranteed healthcare, education, housing and food (however basic) and even corruption is relatively low by regional standards? Or a putatively free and democratic country but with rampant corruption and crime, where large swathes of the population live in severe poverty with little or no access to healthcare, education, housing and food and there are regular kidnappings and assassinations by both death squads and gangs?

**Odin** · 08-26-2018, 11:35 AM

Guatemala.

**Tooting Carmen** · 08-26-2018, 01:29 PM

Anyone else?

**sean** · 01-31-2021, 01:49 PM

Guatemala.

Guatemala is ironically the first liberal country in Latin America (way before Uruguay). But having US-trained dictators plunge countries into bloody civil wars and continuing a Stalin-esque reign of terror for decades just for the sake of having some small shithole with few resources become allied with the US was really their choice in the matter.

Genocidal civil war and years of military dictatorships aren't good for the economy. Also, drugs. However, Guatemala, which has a much, much, much, much higher percentage of indigenous population, and lower percentage of mestizos, is not as dangerous as Mexico.

Originally Posted by Tooting Carmen

Is it worse to be in a wholesale Communist dictatorship with little freedom of expression but where at least crime rates are low, everyone is guaranteed healthcare, education, housing and food (however basic) and even corruption is relatively low by regional standards? Or a putatively free and democratic country but with rampant corruption and crime, where large swathes of the population live in severe poverty with little or no access to healthcare, education, housing and food and there are regular kidnappings and assassinations by both death squads and gangs?

Guatemala isn't bad in places like Antigua and it even has areas where Americans retire. Only the north is controlled by immigration cartels.

But in Cuba, the living standards are low, disposable income is fucking terrible, it's harder to live there than Mexico.

Food is rationed out by a check list that you have to give to the bodega every time you go to get your daily rations. Havana's streets look decent in the bay side but if you go to the old Havana, the buildings are falling down because of lack of maintenance and reparations. Also, stores there usually charge in "chavitos" (valued at one USD). In the more urban areas people would sell you stuff like a paper roll of sugar or straight out beg for convertible pesos.

There's no air conditioning, no wifi in the houses, some places have no toilets (you actually shit in a hole).

Average Cuban family:

As for healthcare, people with cancer in Cuba are left to die, and not even provided with morphine or palliative care. Their own hospitals are fucking cesspit nightmares. Even Castro sent for Spanish doctors when he was sick.