...and they are all 100% sure that Cuba is an authoritarian dictatorship, Fidel was the Caribbean Hitler, and that everyone in Cuba despises their government and yearns for freedom, but they are just afraid to speak out about it.

Any of discussion of Cuba I've tried to have with US Americans - online or IRL - has gone the exact same way. It doesn't matter the evidence I show or how I clearly know the most about Cuba by far amongst my friends... I'm wrong. Cubans aren't free and the Communist Party has an iron grip on the country and they rule by fear and intimidation. It's just something every US American knows. And oftentimes I'm talking with people who are normally all "science is so cool" types who allegedly believe in "evidence".

Yes Cuba has elections but obviously they're rigged... so I explain how they have sealed boxes and all sorts of safeguards in place for a clean election. And how there are no legit international orgs that claim Cuba's elections are rigged (not like Cuba has to play by western liberal democracy rules anyway). Doesn't matter. Obviously it's all rigged and how dare I defend an authoritarian regime in the first place?!

It's just weird how quickly US Americans shut down when a country like Cuba is discussed and when they obviously don't have a clue what they're talking about. Like, everyone - left and right - likes to talk about how corrupt the US government is. But their brains can't let them even start to question US propaganda. I guess it's not surprising really, I think most Americans don't really think the government lied about Iraq, for example. Even reasonably intelligent and allegedly open-minded people I know just know that Cubans aren't free and gommunism no food, and they will never consider any evidence to the contrary.

And this is all hilarious to me given how US Americans have a comically bad understanding of countries outside the US.