I’m simply amazed that after all of the evidence and history, that some still wish to believe in a fairy tale.

When I mention writer Paul Berman’s points about Che’s helping to found the Cuban gulag, and his authorizing of hundreds of executions (among the victims socialists, social democrats, homosexuals, the reaction was out-of-hand rejections. When I mention that medical care in Cuba isn’t all it was cracked up to be, my points have also been summarily waved away.

One time I mentioned to a retired Bolivian diplomat about all the bad policies of Chavez (his replacing judges and army officers with his cronies, his appropriating large portions of the national oil company’s profits for use by his political party, his clamping down on freedom of expression, his attempts to change the constitution to gather more power in his own hands, etc.), she refused to acknowledge these points, instead shrugging and saying, “we have to believe in something.”

And that’s it. This it not a question of genuine belief, but of a desire to believe, a desire that’s based on something deeper and more emotional. That’s why rational argument and evidence don’t seem to work.

I hear that medical care is really great for everyone there, and of course everyone is literate, that there are not so many political prisoners so why make a fuss over them….and so on.