And now for more propaganda from AP

Associated Press is back to shilling for the charismatic-leader-helping-the-poor-offering-free-health-care-education-adult-literacy-and-job-training-initiatives-that-help-millions-of-Cubans^tm through a lie, not that they ever stopped:

Castro, 80, is a leading example of Cuba's healthy life expectancy

Fidel Castro may be ailing, but he's a living example of something Cubans take pride in — an average life expectancy roughly similar to that of the United States.

Living?

Depends how badly:

Homes that were luxurious before Castro's 1959 revolution are now falling apart and many cramped apartments contain three generations of family members. Food, water and medicine shortages are chronic.

But most prescription drugs and visits to the doctor are free and physicians encourage preventive care.

Oh, yeah, I've heard of that. I also know that people who travel to Cuba to see their relatives (who are not allowed to leave Cuba) have to get them the most basic supplies, such as sanitary napkins, aspirin, Tylenol, band-aids, and first-aid ointments like Betadine and iodine. Ask my sister's next-door neighbor, who works at a pharmacy that provides ready-made "care packages" of first-aid items to take to Cuba.

Of course Will Weisert, the AP reporter, hasn't been told that Cubans treated in Cuban hospitals have to bring their own bed linens because the hospitals don't have any. The linens are available in Cuban hospitals only to foreigners paying in dollars.

The article continues,

Cuba's average life expectancy is 77.08 years — second in Latin America after Puerto Rico and more than 11 years above the world average, according to the 2007 CIA World Fact Book.

It says Cuban life expectancy averages 74.85 years for men and 79.43 years for women, compared with 75.15 and 80.97 respectively for Americans.

Here's the CIA Factbook info on Cuban life expectancy:

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.08 years
male: 74.85 years
female: 79.43 years (2007 est.)

For Puerto Rico

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78.54 years
male: 74.6 years
female: 82.67 years (2007 est.)

And the USA (by which they mean the 50 states, since Puerto Ricans are Americans from birth)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 78 years
male: 75.15 years
female: 80.97 years (2007 est.)

But back to the AP article,

A relaxed lifestyle, which prizes time spent with family over careers, helps keep Cubans healthy, Tache said.

Just ask these Ladies about their relaxed lifestyle:


Just another day of Associated Press Deficit Disorder (APDD)

Update Via Irwin, The Big White Lie
Don't Worry, Be A Commie
Update 2: A Shredding, at Opinion Journal

If an old American lady told a reporter, "Sometimes you have all you want to eat and sometimes you don't," is there any doubt he would write a story bewailing our country's shocking neglect of the elderly, poor and hungry? Why are American journalists more favorably disposed toward an America-hating communist personality cult than their own country?