Thanks for posting a very sensible article, Chris. I suspect, however, that the Orlando Sentinel is part of the mainstream, neo-liberal press, and we will have to reject its evidence as inadmissible. Although I'm not quite sure what "neo-liberal" means, it is likely to be a post-Popperian logical category that allows one to sift credible evidence from bunkum since falsifiability, as a criterion, has long been relegated to the dust heap of history. In particular, statements such as Cubans find it difficult to get food and other basic necessities or that they are trading medical services for oil (something that the virulently neo-liberal Boston Globe also reported on the flimsy evidence of a nurse), are so antithetical to accepted post-Popperian epistemologies that we will have to dismiss them completely.
I appreciate your intentions, Chris, but I do hope you will understand why we must disregard this otherwise well-written piece.
Sujeet