Graham Broadley
United Kingdom

Comments: I know your magazine promotes living off the US Shoreline, but CUBA??????  Come on!!!!  My family lost everything, they spent 6 days on a little boat, surrounded by sharks escaping the communist dictator named Fidel Castro, and you have the gall to describe it as men in guayaberas and straw hats????  Why don't you mention the coupon book for rice, meat, underwear, and bandaids?  Maybe you should mention how little girls in Cuba are being sold to tourists as hookers.

Reply: Gallo did not embrace, nor celebrate Cuba; he recognizes Cuba's tremendous problems and Castro's often violent dictatorship.  Gallo also is on record for stating that if Cuba were indeed a free nation then Cubans would have internet access and unlimited access to books on all subjects; which they do not.  Gallo stated that without choices there are no values, and Cubans have no real choices. More then once Gallo has stated that Cuba is not free, that Cuba it is a dictatorship and that it is an economic disaster.  What Gallo did attempt to do that most commentators do not, is to put Cuba into objective context.  What follows, is what Gallo did state in behalf of Cuba, and what follows, if one sheds their hysteria and reads it objectively, is a critique of U.S. policy, not a defense of Cuban policy.

"Cubans enjoy a high standard of health and a level of education unprecedented in Latin America. Over 70% of all Cubans have a college education. One in 300 Cubans is a medical doctor. The level of medical care and the standard of medicine in Cuba is superior to any country in Latin America and is without any question among the very best medical care in the world.

There has been a tendency, especially by the American government, to ignore these gains.  The standard argument against the existence of Cuban successes is that Cubans are not free. The so-called free world uses the lack of civil liberties in Cuba as the yardstick for judging everything else about Cuba.  There is no question in my mind that freedom is my most excellent possession and I’d hate like hell to have to live without freedom.  But in much of Latin America freedom has meant being able to work in maquiladora-like zones or starve.  Worst, the deck is stacked.  What is passed off as capitalism by the U.S. government, resembles capitalism only in it's most orchestrated form.

The orchestration of economics is geared to produce slaves and beneficiaries and it does so very efficiently. There are plenty of bright people who would argue that this isn't so. They will tell you that the current style of orchestrated capitalism will produce a better world. They are either idiots, willfully blind, have a vested interest to obfuscate the facts, or they are bullshitters.

I would ask those astute believers in today's version of capitalism to consider what the consequence of a totally open Cuba would bring. How long before the economic wizards in Washington would reduce all of the Cuban women back into whores, the men into banana pickers and destroy the educational system?  Would we have another Guatemala? Another Colombia?

But why single out Latin America?  Forty million Americans are murdered, maimed, raped, mugged, or robbed every year.  Why are these conditions and comparisons not made when comparing Cuba to the so-called free world?  It's very clear that there is a vested interest in America towards viewing things the way the power-brokers want us to perceive them. China murdered it's children on television, (Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989) yet the U.S. trades with China because Boeing had a crying jag when a French airplane manufacturer got a large contract that Boeing wanted. So the legislation in Washington D.C. was ‘adjusted’ to allow free-trade with China. ‘Engagement accomplishes more than trade boycotts,’ was the rallying cry.  What about Cuba?  The children of Cuba are unmurdered and in school.

Am I a socialist? The answer is no.

I want to analyze the conditions for expatriates living in Cuba, to do so means that I owe it to my readers to give a fair and unbiased view of Cuba. I admit is difficult for me to be unbiased about Cuba. Cubans are a magnificent people. I have no trouble saying that they are among the finest if not the finest people I have ever encountered. They are generous and they are warm and best of all, they are highly intelligent.  The country has excellent dance companies, (both ballet and folkloric, it has  some of the best music in the world,  and it has great athletes and good sports facilities. Cuba is a very pleasant place made many times better by it's extraordinary people."

Any information on obtaining health insurance in Brazil?
We are interested in coverage for about 5-7 months and it needs to have maternity coverage.  We are mainly interested in coverage of catastrophic/high-price (>$10k) problems. Any tips or references to other sites would be much appreciated.

Thanks Ric

Ric, 
You might want to have a look at this site www.medibroker.com
Kind regards, Susan

Mr Myers comments regarding qualifications are totally inaccurate. In order to teach English legally in Korea you MUST HAVE a university degree. Anyone found teaching without a degree (or teaching with fake credentials) will be fined by Immigration and possibly deported. An illegal teacher's punishment is totally at the disgression of Korean Immigration officials. In fact, Immigration has become much stricter in the past year. Teachers must also provide sealed (unopened) transcripts, in addition to their original degree (or a notarized copy). There are plenty of jobs in Korea for teachers with the proper credentials. However, neither the Korean government, or teachers who are here legally, want unqualified people coming here and teaching illegally.

If anyone would like to contact me I would be happy to answer any of your questions about working legally in Korea.