At one time, yes Cuba was quite ideal.. Now that Castro is all but dead, hopefully that peace and prosperity will return again...
Or maybe Castro will gift the country to Chavez upon his death and the region will have another 40 years of darkness.
a few things i think you haven't mentioned and i consider very important (maybe not to all???) * security level (crime, robbery and similar)... as a parent you would most definitely would like your children to grow up in an environment and country that is pretty safe and secure... in a country where you wouldn't have to worry about ur kids being robbed, kidnapped or maybe even murdered vilolently on the street... * over all well being of citizens... this is very important to me as i myself am a person who's live in over 5 different countries and have seen some pretty hardcore stuff... as an american born but from south american parents i've seen how in certain countries (eg. U.S.A) the majority of their citizens are overall well off... have a roof, job, clothing and food on their table every day and i've also seen tons of countries even some that are famous for fiscal paradise or loopholes where their upper class are ridiculously well but the big and vast majority are living near poverty levels... with respect to people in countries all over the world.. what good is it to have crazy ass rich people very very well off but having the majority of the citizens starving... i've seen many places like this in south america, central america and i'm pretty certain africa is the same... having said this i think one of the best places to live matching ur criterias would be some where in southern europe... such as portugal, spain(stay away from big cities - too expensive), greece, cyprus. btw.. this post is pretty old.. have u moved out of the U.S. yet?
the only thing i could say is that you should listen to both sides.. both versions.. you would be so amazed the huge contrast their is when you liste to the same exact news on CNN and then later on BBC... maybe america is not always right.. and not always america defends "world democracy"...
There should really be a litmus test to get on an internet forum. Some of the ignorant things I hear make me want to change my views on abortion... Anyway.. Bush = President elected in a free society. Out in 08. Chavez/Castro = Dictators. Not elected... Took over by force. How many more poor and starving are there in Cuba and Venezula than in the US? Most of the population in both of those countries are poor or starving.. Meanwhile the Dictators live high on the hog.
Are you able to name a single government which is "too anarchistic?" (((Meaning "central government too small", not talking about the Iraqi mess, for example)))
My tastes run strongly towards independence, but I believe that government should exist to provide law & order and national defense. I really liked Colombia, but huge portions of the country are under the control of FARC. That wouldn't be a good place to be. The Southern Philippines is in a similar situation with [SIZE=-1]Abu Sayyaf. Large portions of Africa suffer from rampant lawlessness, but they are so bad that I haven't taken the time to look seriously at them. [/SIZE]
That depends where you are in Panama. It's nicely temperate at the higher elevations. Panama City, on the other hand, is quite warm!
Villa by the ocean, with pool for 80k in tunisia? Hmmm. And europe is so close too. Tempting! Canada rocks but winter sucks.
Stability of the government will only be a concern if you on planning on buying real estate. The world economy ids doing well right now and things are subject to change without notice.