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Cuba's Aid to Haiti Ignored by the US Media?
Among the many donor nations helping Haiti, Cuba and its medical teams have played a major role in treating earthquake victims.
After the quake struck, Haiti's first medical aid came from Cuba. (Gallo/Getty) Public health experts say the Cubans were the first to set up
medical facilities among the debris and to revamp hospitals immediately
after the earthquake struck.
However, their pivotal work in the health sector has received scant media coverage.
"It is striking that there has been virtually no mention in the media of the fact that Cuba had several hundred health personnel on the ground before any other country," said David Sanders, a professor of public health from Western Cape University in South Africa.The Cuban team coordinator in Haiti, Dr Carlos Alberto Garcia, says the Cuban doctors, nurses and other health personnel have been working non-stop, day and night, with operating rooms open 18 hours a day.
During a visit to La Paz hospital in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, Dr Mirta Roses, the director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) which is in charge of medical coordination between the Cuban doctors, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and a host of health sector NGOs, described the aid provided by Cuban doctors as "excellent and marvellous".
La Paz is one of five hospitals in Haiti that is largely staffed by health professionals from Havana.
History of cooperation
Haiti and Cuba signed a medical cooperation agreement in 1998.Before the earthquake struck, 344 Cuban health professionals were already present in Haiti, providing primary care and obstetrical services as well as operating to restore the sight of Haitians blinded by eye diseases.
More doctors were flown in shortly after the earthquake, as part of the rapid response Henry Reeve Medical Brigade of disaster specialists. The brigade has extensive experience in dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes, having responded to such disasters in China, Indonesia and Pakistan.
"In the case of Cuban doctors, they are rapid responders to disasters, because disaster management is an integral part of their training," explains Maria a Hamlin Zúniga, a public health specialist from Nicaragua.
"They are fully aware of the need to reduce risks by having people prepared to act in any disaster situation."
Cuban doctors have been organising medical facilities in three revamped and five field hospitals, five diagnostic centres, with a total of 22 different care posts aided by financial support from Venezuela. They are also operating nine rehabilitation centres staffed by nearly 70 Cuban physical therapists and rehab specialists, in addition to the Haitian medical personnel.
The Cuban team has been assisted by 100 specialists from Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Canada and 17 nuns.
Havana has also sent 400,000 tetanus vaccines for the wounded.
Eduardo Nuñez Valdes, a Cuban epidemiologist who is currently in Port-au-Prince, has stressed that the current unsanitary conditions could lead to an epidemic of parasitic and infectious diseases if not acted upon quickly.
Media silence
However, in reporting on the international aid effort, Western media have generally not ranked Cuba high on the list of donor nations.
One major international news agency's list of donor nations credited Cuba with sending over 30 doctors to Haiti, whereas the real figure stands at more than 350, including 280 young Haitian doctors who graduated from Cuba. The final figure accounts for a combined total of 930 health professionals in all Cuban medical teams making it the largest medical contingent on the ground.
Another batch if 200 Cuban-trained doctors from 24 countries in Africa and Latin American, and a dozen American doctors who graduated from Havana are currently en route to Haiti and will provide reinforcement to existing Cuban medical teams.
By comparison the internationally-renowned Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without Borders) has approximately 269 health professionals working in Haiti. MSF is much better funded and has far more extensive medical supplies than the Cuban team. Left out
But while representatives from MSF and the ICRC are frequently in front of television cameras discussing health priorities and medical needs, the Cuban medical teams are missing in the media coverage.
Richard Gott, the Guardian newspaper's former foreign editor and a Latin America specialist, explains: "Western media are programmed to be indifferent to aid that comes from unexpected places. In the Haitian case, the media have ignored not just the Cuban contribution, but also the efforts made by other Latin American countries."
Brazil is providing $70mn in funding for 10 urgent care units, 50 mobile units for emergency care, a laboratory and a hospital, among other health services.
Venezuela has cancelled all Haiti debt and has promised to supply oil free of charge until the country has recovered from the disaster.
Western NGOs employ media officers to ensure that the world knows what they are doing.
According to Gott, the Western media has grown accustomed to dealing with such NGOs, enabling a relationship of mutual assistance to develop.
Cuban medical teams, however, are outside this predominantly Western humanitarian-media loop and are therefore only likely to receive attention from Latin American media and Spanish language broadcasters and print media.
There have, however, been notable exceptions to this reporting syndrome. On January 19, a CNN reporter broke the silence on the Cuban role in Haiti with a report on Cuban doctors at La Paz hospital.
Cuba/US cooperation
When the US requested that their military plans be allowed to fly through Cuban airspace for the purpose of evacuating Haitians to hospitals in Florida, Cuba immediately agreed despite almost 50 years of animosity between the two countries.
Josefina Vidal, the director of the Cuban foreign ministry's North America department, issued a statement declaring that: "Cuba is ready to cooperate with all the nations on the ground, including the US, to help the Haitian people and save more lives."This deal cut the flight time of medical evacuation flights from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba's southern tip to Miami by 90 minutes.
According to Darby Holladay, the US state department's spokesperson, the US has also communicated its readiness to make medical relief supplies available to Cuban doctors in Haiti.
"Potential US-Cuban cooperation could go a long way toward meeting Haiti's needs," says Dr Julie Feinsilver, the author of Healing the Masses - a book about Cuban health diplomacy, who argues that maximum cooperation is urgently needed.
Rich in human resources
Although
Cuba is a poor developing country, their wealth of human resources -
doctors, engineers and disaster management experts - has enabled this
small Caribbean nation to play a global role in health care and
humanitarian aid alongside the far richer nations of the west.
Cuban medical teams played a key role in the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and provided the largest contingent of doctors after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. They also stayed the longest among international medical teams treating the victims of the 2006 Indonesian earthquake.
In the Pakistan relief operation the US and Europe dispatched medical teams. Each had a base camp with most doctors deployed for a month. The Cubans, however, deployed seven major base camps, operated 32 field hospitals and stayed for six months.
Bruno Rodriguez, who is now Cuba's foreign minister, headed the mission - living in the mountains of Pakistan for more than six months.
Just after the Indonesian earthquake a year later, I met with Indonesia's then regional health co-coordinator, Dr Ronny Rockito.
Cuba had sent 135 health workers and two field hospitals. Rockito said that while the medical teams from other countries departed after just one month, he asked the Cuban medical team to extend their stay.
"I appreciate the Cuban medical team. Their style is very friendly. Their medical standard is very high," he told me.
"The Cuban [field] hospitals are fully complete and it's free, with no financial support from our government."
Rockito says he never expected to see Cuban doctors coming to his country's rescue.
"We felt very surprised about doctors coming from a poor country, a country so far away that we know little about.
"We can learn from the Cuban health system. They are very fast to handle injuries and fractures. They x-ray, then they operate straight away."
A 'new dawn'?
The Montreal summit, the first gathering of 20 donor nations, agreed to hold a major conference on Haiti's future at the United Nations in March.
Some analysts see Haiti's rehabilitation as a potential opportunity for the US and Cuba to bypass their ideological differences and combine their resources - the US has the logistics while Cuba has the human resources - to help Haiti.
Feinsilver is convinced that "Cuba should be given a seat at the table with all other nations and multilateral organisations and agencies in any and all meetings to discuss, plan and coordinate aid efforts for Haiti's reconstruction".
"This would be in recognition of Cuba's long-standing policy and practise of medical diplomacy, as well as its general development aid to Haiti," she says.
But, will Haiti offer the US administration, which has Cuba on its list of nations that allegedly "support terrorism", a "new dawn" in its relations with Cuba?
In late January, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, thanked Cuba for its efforts in Haiti and welcomed further assistance and co-operation.
In Haiti's grand reconstruction plan, Feinsilver argues, "there can be no imposition of systems from any country, agency or institution. The Haitian people themselves, through what remains of their government and NGOs, must provide the policy direction, and Cuba has been and should continue to be a key player in the health sector in Haiti".
60 Comments so far
Show AllThe US media would never show this and expose how shabby our own medical care is much less our response with anything other than guns.
When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Perfectly put!
and when the ONLY "great cause" you REALLY have is Profit and Power -- everything looks like Dollars.
Cuba has always been there for people who need medical help. The US usually does show up, but we bring in troops which are not needed for medical care. I find it just too damn bad that the US does not know how to do anything unless it has a military facet to it.
Is this a great country or not???
Not!
Canyonville, Oregon
Cuba offered aid and assistance to us for Hurricane Katrina, but of course, was turned away.
because in its misplaced pride as the "paragon of civilization and greatness"...
the USA couldn't stand being exposed that the rich nation not only had the already exposed for all the world to see a THIRD WORLD country inside its own borders straight out of its Slavery and Racist history and it might take a POOR SOCIALIST country to do the job RIGHT!
i mean -- with the whole world watching, dead , bloated, floating bodies in the hundreds or thousands due to AMERICAN NEGLECT of its own citizens - CUBANS helping them?
ewe...we can't have THAT! we are a CAPITALIST country!! and those commies are so INHUMANE!
Talk about a double standard! If Cuba and Venezuela had refused to help Haiti, it would have been non-stop 24/7 in the whore media,you betcha!
Exactly -- and you'd have WAR DRUMS all over the place demanding for CUBA and Venezuela to be INVADED, Forthwith
"to bring freedom and democracy"!!
come to think of it -- the Thousands of US Troops in Haiti whose GUNS and munitions AREN"T needed in Haiti for "medical reasons" ...can you imagine the OBVIOUSness of it all?.......
are really there for what ELSE but for the USA to insinuate and wrangle and worm its way FIRMLY on haiti soil - under the mask of "humanitarian and security from crime" reasons -- to have a more convenient , LIGHTNING SPEED launching of an INVASION on cuba or venezuela should the pentagon and corporate entities of the USA and the "full spectrum dominance" cabal decide it's time....and make sure -- they KEEP the surrounding area around the USA
"free of Commies, socialists, and the CHINESE and RUSSIANS"....
but THEN _- even if these other countries WERE there ...doing business, trade, and the aid where the USA has FAILED...
we come back to Patrick Buchanan's correct remark (disgusting as he otherwise IS) :
"we didn't like it when the Soviets were in OUR neighborhood in Cuba....so...what are WE doing in Russia's backyard? we should get out of this business of Empire -- and leave those lands - before they kick us out of there".
Boycott the MSM
Damned commie Cubans. They have a hell of a lot of nerve giving away a valuable commodity like medical assistance to poor people. Somebody oughta report them to the Un-American Affairs Committee.
i know, i know!!!
darn those cuban commies...how dare they HELP people without thinking of Insane Profits? THAT's just insane....!!!
"what does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his Soul?"
-- Jesus Christ...
"what good is it to do good if you can't have insane Profits?..where's the INCENTIVE in that?!! Jeeezzzzuzz H Christ!"
-- USA Capitalist Answer to Jesus Christ.
CNN ran a story about Cuban aid to Haiti weeks ago.
Big Oil has interlocking directorates with American media corporations, so there is no "news" about Cuban affairs such as Cuba's oil or oil resources around Haiti.
If Cuba is successful (read entire following article) with their oil production they might be able to help Haiti with their development. The Russians just drilled a big field off the cost of Vietnam,and wrote off the cost, I believe, in exchange for part of the production. Bingo, Vietnam has affordable oil.
And Chavez has tried to help developing nations with good oil deals.
But the Haitians must have leadership not owned by Washington.
But of course, the average American is not exploited. We only have to pay at the pump and then watch $Trillions in our tax dollars used as corporate energy war crime welfare as in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. If you are really lucky your child just might get killed or maimed fighting in such wars, since there are few jobs for them.
Enjoy !
American interest in Haiti and the new deployment of troops is more than likely about oil.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17287
The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti
By F. William Engdahl
Global Research, January 30, 2010
excerpts:
Haiti, a new Saudi Arabia?
"The remarkable geography of Haiti and Cuba and the discovery of world-class oil reserves in the waters off Cuba lend credence to anecdotal accounts of major oil discoveries in several parts of Haitian territory. It also could explain why two Bush Presidents and now special UN Haiti Envoy Bill Clinton have made Haiti such a priority. As well, it could explain why Washington and its NGOs moved so quickly to remove-- twice-- the democratically elected President Aristide, whose economic program for Haiti included, among other items, proposals for developing Haitian natural resources for the benefit of the Haitian people."
"According to Marguerite Laurent ('Ezili Dantò') of the Haitian Lawyers’ Leadership Network, under the guise of emergency relief work, the US, France and Canada are engaged in a balkanization of the island for future mineral control. She reports rumors that Canada wants the North of Haiti where Canadian mining interests are already present. The US wants Port-au-Prince and the island of La Gonaive just offshore – an area identified in Aristide’s development book as having vast oil resources, and which is bitterly contested by France. She further states that China, with UN veto power over the de facto UN-occupied country, may have something to say against such a US-France-Canada carve up of the vast wealth of the nation."
camus13
In 1800 the people of Haiti, who at that time were slaves to French plantation owners, overthrew the French and chased the SOBs out. The first and only successful slave rebellion in the world. We must remember that the US was a big time slave country and the chills sent down the spines of our slave holding class was world class. You know our Founding Fathers, slave holders galore.
When a natural disaster like the earth quake in Haiti hits your only choice is sent TROOPS. Because you never know they might do it again, except they are American sweat shop owners not the French.
MSM has spend the last month waiting and waiting for the people of Haiti to rise up and run us, the US, out. So remember like all fearful people we are scared to death because the next thing they will do is jump in their planes and ships and attack us.
To heck with medicine, food, and housing its send in the Marines which is our first, last and only response to anything.
EXACTLY...what the US marines are there for -- and according to a US official , i think it was Gates himself: "we will stay in HAITI for as long as it takes" (What is "IT" ? if not to control haiti?) ....what they are there for is - like with the Mafia -- to "case out the joint" and check it out that US CoRPORATIONS will have a HEYDEY in the "rebuilding".
it is nothing more but a continuation and resurrection of what even General Smeldey Butler, US Marines, 1933 admitted that the MARINES and "our armed forces' TRUE purpose is to make the world safe for our Big Boss: our supernationalistic Capitalism and our Cultural and Economic ASSAULT....i participated in the RAPE of more than a Dozen Nations in Latin America and the Caribbean to help our Big Banks, Big Corporations and Big Finance bring their Money and War Racket..i helped in the pacifying of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and many others for our Banana corporations and other corporations.....we are RACKETEERS and GANGSTERS for capitalism...what we DO is EVIL".
"we will stay in JAPAN for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in GERMANY for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in KOREA for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in TAIWAN for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in ITALY for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in FRANCE for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in SAUDI ARABIA for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in COLUMBIA for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in KUWAIT for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in IRAQ for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in PANAMA for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in AFGHANISTAN for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in PAKISTAN for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in YEMEN for as long as it takes"
"we will stay in HAITI for as long as it takes"
To provoke yet another round of imperial blowback, pretext for the next imperial advance.
RTDRURY....
that is a brilliant way of putting things EMPHATICALLY and so clearly ...it's exactly the kind of stating things that I often think - with their "short memory , attention span but given to easy-digested" lines - americans NEED by way of "education" about politics, economics and global realities and the TRUE nature of the American Empire.
i think you know what I mean:
very often - and I think this is the same everywhere in general , but most unusually so in the USA - people , masses tend to want to have "shortened" versions that they can understand (not that they are stupid, but probably merely too occupied with so many daily things)..and the kind of "slogan" type statement or 'explanation' like you put is about the only way really to get through to the often thick skulls.
absolutely brilliant way of putting it. it never even occured to ME that there is THAT pattern all along!
I'm convinced that if economies were not FORCED to try and survive IN the global capitalist system imposed militarily , obviously, by the USA - with its armtwisting tactics for decades already - and the economies were left to find their ways for their own true destinies of prosperity (in which humans would be TOO stupid not to realize to arrange things for their common welfare except when Coerced or undermined) --
the people of all countries the USA has boots in -- would be shouting :
"GET OUT USA -- you've overstayed -- and we NEVER needed you, EVER.
it's YOU that needs the rest of the world to spread your Gospel of Capitalism coz without US == you wouldn't have any "markets" to conquer just like you did with the Native Indians.
go away! "
That's the trouble with socialized medicine - they just give it away to whomever needs it.
No wonder Cuba is poor.
actually no..
the reason cuba is poor - as well as many other countries are poor - is because of US DOMINATED and INSTIGATED "sanctions" - and threatening other countries with sanctions against THEM if they do business with cuba.
that's an american tactic and strategy of impoverishing nations that "are not cooperative to our WILL and the will of our Chamber of commerce" (John Perkins, Former CIA "economic hitman").
of course the reason US MEDIA hides or ignores this fact about Cuba's helping haiti -- is because in a real coverage - and when people find out and compare what the USA has done and Cuba has shown...
the USA will be exposed for being what it IS:
"rich but a MISER".
Cuba - "poor but GENEROUS".
there is a favorite of mine Lesson by the HERO of the American CHRISTIANS: Jesus Christ:
he asked his disciples and listeners:
"A rich man goes to the temple and gives gold coins at the front of the temple...a poor widow at the back hides herself..ashamed that she only has a copper coin to offer, her last..
WHICH of them gave MORE?"
when the disciples answered "THE RICH MAN, for he gave plenty of gold coins"...
JESUS corrected them:
"NO -- it was the poor widow, for the Rich man gave out of his ABUNDANCE...but the poor widow gave EVERYTHING she had out of her poverty".
the USA is the "rich" man of the world -- MISERLY and exploitative and BRAGGING about its "generosity"...
CUBA is closer to the poor widow - giving what little it has.
As Mahatma Gandhi , when asked by an Americanb reporter decades ago:
:"Mister Gandhi -- what do you LIKE about the United States, such a great country?"
GANDHI said:
"I do NOT like your christians -- they are so....UNchristlike".
Well written post, Teddy. One of my relatives spent time in Cuba and you are spot on! According to him, Cuba has a lot of problems and most are caused by the Cuban Embargo. But he also told me Cuba has an excellent health care system. He lives in New Zealand and has traveled all over the world and praised Cuba's health care as one of the best in the world, while the U.S. healthcare system in his opinion, has to be one of the worst in the world for the average citizen.
Hi Paul Revere.
I recall a brief conversation i had with someone (with a cushy administrative job) about health care...since those in the conversation happened to talk about someone sick and all those things about insurance, cost,etc.
I remarked that "well - the system here is so broken due to profiteering".
so this person tells me -- "well - what do you think is a better system?"
I said:
it's been around for decades: look at the scandinavian countries, look at norway, sweden, denmark, look at france...
she exclaimed:
"but that's Socialism...you must be KIDDING me! .. in socialism they LINE up for a long time and care is rationed!"
I retored :
"well -- in the USA - health care is RATIONED by the Profiteering Corporations, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals with their over-the-clouds costs...so WHAT GOOD is this 'best health care in the world' of yours if Tens of Millions of WORKING americans can't AFFORD IT -- or go bankrupt with premiums for insurance that will DENY Them if it's inconvenient..what good is this wonderful medicine you have here if it DESTROYS entire industries because of ITS profiteering? that's not a health care system -- that Profiteering on the MISERY of people and is UNCIVILIZED."
she basically shut up.
The corporate owned and controlled media is NOT going to mention anything positive that Cuba has done in Haiti or anywhere else! The corporatists hate the Cuban revolution because it symbolizes what can happen when the people get sick and tired of being sick and tired!
Unlike the U.S., Cuba has sent in humanitarian aid NOT expecting anything in return! We sent in the Marines in order to begin take over of Haitian factories, farms and anything else of value! The U.S. along with European nations have exploited Haiti for hundreds of years! Cuba on the other hand fully understands what it is to be exploited by the gringos and their European allies! QUE VIVA LA REVOLUCION! QUE VIVA CUBA y HAITI LIBRE!
Funny how someone mentioned "socialized medicine" being the reason Cuba is supposedly so poor because they give iota away freely.
Well what do you call the American taxpayer?
I'll tell you:
Welfare for the government, churches and corporations.
Not to mention all the healthcare we are giving to all the communities/countries the US military destroys, (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc)
If you are American, you are expected to not ask for anything in return for the money taken from you in taxes.
Where is all the outcry from the Tea-Baggers and Conservatives who hate places like Cuba and Socialized medicine when it comes to Americans being robbed by those we hire?
Here is how it was supposed to be:
"We the People" which is Socialism.
The best way to govern and live, seems the Founding Founders had an idea there that has been slowly destroyed by the self-centered, religiously tainted, fake-conservative Republican Party.
A government of the people, by the people, for the people = Socialism !!!
Accept that or go down like a sinking ship...and maybe one day, Cuba will be on our shores, helping us, after our US government pissed off enough other countries that they attacked us, much larger than on 9/11.
"We the People" does not in any way refer to Socialism.
Socialism is an economic theory.
"We the People,' the opening words of the Preamble, is a salutation!
I take it you didn't do too well in high school government?
I think the Cubans are more able to operate among poor foreign people, able to fit in and organize locals to carry out the numerous things necessary for maximizing the delivery of medical services. The U.S. must often face mixed sentiments from a local community, even domestically, like in New Orleans. The Cubans have a greater ethos and rapport with the people on a block by block basis, leading to consistent success delivering medical services, so the Cubans,maybe similarly to a few other groups, but even better, almost never need a totally military-dominated venue in order to assure stable enough conditions for their bags of medical services and community coordination efforts. The U.S. very often must have military control because in addition to whatever positive qualities it may lack in any given instance, it can provoke disorder and lack of cooperation and provide opportunities for corruption by some of the choices it makes and some of the alliances it forms.
MARCOS -- I am still looking for an Article (i think in Alternet.org) about Cuban Medicine...
but it focused on Americans who went to Cuba to study Medicine - for free - because they want to be doctors but can't afford it in the USA.
the participants, coming from different localities in the USA (many wanting to become general practitioners and family doctors in the USA in poorer neighborhoods) , gave their reports of their experiences.
generally - they reported that :
while Cuban Medicine is behind the USA because it is poor and can't afford the many high-tech advances - and it has to focus on family practice, emergencies, rural treatment, and "make-do" situations...there is practically no Cuban without healthcare..especially Preventative care , education, sanitation...etc...
and one participant said :
"in cuba - because they don't have the most advanced equipment , like CATscans everywhere, we became EXPERT Doctors in treating people, even in emergencies, on the field where you have nothing, no modern equipment..."
"a fundamental question was always asked in tests: 'what is the best treatment for someone with internal injuries or problems -- out in the middle of a field with no electricity...etc?' ...we americans would answer :'CATSCANS..etc"...but we learned to become doctors without those things".
another participant - formerly an LA football big league player considered a real future star , but had an injury and was having his therapy and then it made him think of using that time to start in medical school , which was his boyhood dream - reported that:
"the time away from football, in rehab to go back to the sport gave me the chance to think and go to medical school...when i learned Cuba had a program to foreigners for Free Medical study, i grabbed the chance...the only thing they required was:
OUR promise and commitment that after medical school - we would work for 2 years in poor communities and for people who can't afford medical care ...that's the way they have it in cuba. if you're not committed to that SERVICE to the community...they won't let you get into medicine...I realized that - where in FOOTBALL so much money and power is going around like a Game for people, it is proof of how WASTEFUL capitalism really is...I am NOW a committed Socialist".
Another Participant reported:
"IN cuba - during our training..for the first two years -- you have to show you are capable of treating as best as possible in the most dire circumstances...often without the modern equipment and medicines we have in the USA...unless you pass this test -- they WON'T let you TOUCH a patient at all".
(I AM paraphrasing these remarks - but I generaly memorized the essential points they made)
Stories of people's experience with Cuban medicine, receiving/administering/studying, are a great way of understanding Cuba's achievements in this area of what should be a universal human right. The fact that teddy, and in turn Common Dreams, are media for these stories shows that establishment media coverage is not everything, but it also helps make the point that establishment media coverage is essentially MIC propaganda.
There is NO DOUBT that the Cuban medical missions are one of the best if not the best channels for aid/philanthropy on the planet today, and far more effective than the typical US mission which almost inevitably comes with serious strings attached. In particular, most of the munny is channeled back into the USan hyperactive munny churn where the Pentagun scoops cream off every churn cycle. In your research, start with this hypothesis and you may be surprised to discover the volume of supporting evidence. Or prove it wrong, why don't you.
ELAM, the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine is a key center in Cuba where medical missions sans strings are trained. In your research, look for mention of this institution, or find a way to donate directly to it. Off the top of my head I would say call ELAM and ask how you can donate. And call twice and speak to two different people there and send the donation only if their instructions are consistent with each other. Also, ask them for referrals to other donors, and contact them and ask if they thought their donation was well-utilized. Doctors Without Borders is another possible channel to fuel the Cuban Medical Missions but this is just a guess. Also keep in mind that munny corrupts, so a better thing to do may be to donate supplies. You could for example find a Cuban, Venezuelan, or Bolivian supplier of organic fair trade cotton for bandages and organic ethanol for antiseptic and fund a contract for supplying ELAM with those things.
There is a very practical economic factor that goes unmentioned in discussions of Cuban medical assistance in crises such as the Haitian earthquake. One can ask how is it possible that Cuba can provide such dis-proportionally hedge disaster medical services in these crises situations when compared to much larger and much wealthier North America and European nations?
While there are other reasons, I believe one overriding one is based in what makes economic sense. How much does it cost to keep a Cuban educated and employed surgeon in Haiti vs. a US educated and employed surgeon? What type of medical care environment does a US surgeon vs. a Cuban surgeon perform best in. Cuba could never afford all the miracle machinery that serves as a basis of US health care because it can't afford the astronomical costs of those services high priced accouterments. Cuban medicine works best within very tight budgets and limited access to advanced medical technology, drugs, etc. The US cannot for any extended length of time financially support its corps of governmental and NGO personnel. Whatever the good intentions of each of the two countries are, the medical personnel in each - unless they are independently wealthy and unconcerned about compensation for their labor - must be paid at some point for their service. At this point after the earthquake, it is probably more economical to have trained Cuban medical personnel in Haiti than those from the US or from Europe; they are trained to work with less and for less and are probably the last best hope for people in the third world in need of extensive emergency medical care that comes with the scale of devastation that Haiti experienced.
Just consider the quandary of Floridian medical services to better understand the financial problems. Florida had to stop accepting patients with serious injuries from Haiti because it had no way of paying for the services provided to them.
I guess this is in essence what teddy is saying below.
If only Che had come to Iowa instead of Bolivia.................
Be very careful what you wish for.
Despite all the good things that Cuba does, despite supporting the non-violent revolutions currently taking place all over Latin America with the elections of socialist leaders, despite all their help for the poor.....
Cuba remains a state where dissent of the kind that we on this site relish is punished by jail time. And I'm not talking about going to jail for 48 hours because you chained yourself to the entrance of the UN building, I'm talking about years of imprisonment for printing anti-government leaflets.
I think there MUST be something wrong with any system of government that cannot tolerate dissent. And this seems to be the case on the far left as well as on the far right.
I will continue to write my congressmen and argue that this embargo by the US against Cuba is silly and needs to be lifted, but I will hold no delusions that the Cuban model is the one I would prefer in Iowa.
I'll stick with the Western European model myself, thank you very much.
Cuba supposedly jails dissidents..( it actually jails US agent provacateurs) .In the USA the corporate media ensures that the opposing viewpoint never sees the light of day
and the USA just "indefinitely detains" MERE suspects.
and tortures them - all over the globe...
and PRETENDS this is all for "democracy", freedom , justice and TRUTH while LYING through its teeth.
after all -- whatever evils are in cuba's governance...why should it be surprising that they would be very tight for their borders and system when for decades - from the north a GIANT MILITARY EMPIRE has always attempted to conquer them -- and before the socialist revolution - actually
used cuba as another "plantation" for slavery and Fascism ?
the cubans or those that lead them KNOW the history of imperialist USA.
THAT"s what they are motivated by to try and keep their system independent of American imperialism that has proven ALL OVER THE GLOBE
to be nothing but "OUR ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL ASSAULT - it has nothing to do with democracy" ...General Smedley Butler, US Marines, 1933
What Che represents to me is the opportunity fo create a society that prioritises the needs of people before profits.
The Cuban govt after the revolution has problems. If you happened to see the recent movie about Che Guevarra you'll remember the last scene in part one. The final battle with Batista's militia has just been won. Che and the revolutionaries are on a victorious journey to Havana and they are passed on the road by a stolen car driven by a cadre of celebratory revolutionaries. Che stops the car and makes the revs return it to the owner. He then looks directly into the camera and says "Unbelievable."
Yes, mistakes have been made in Cuba, it would seem plenty of them. How many are related to the fact that they are mere miles from the shores of the military super-power that wants them gone it's hard to say.
What I do know is that I make my living right now as an artsworker and have to purchase my own health insurance. I have pre-existing so you can imagine the difficulties. I am strugling to afford it (understatement.)
And I do know that, despite the very considerable barriers created by my country, the Cubans have one of the best systems of health care anywhere in the world. Accessible to all.
Let me repeat: I sincerely wish Che had come to Iowa instead of Bolivia. We could work at minimizing mistakes. I hope you understand.
Iowapinko:
Albert Einstein would be Proud of you:
"CAPITALISM has a natural tendency to concentrate wealth and power into a few private hands. everywhere you look...workers are denied the wealth that they have accumulated together...this is done not necessarily always through physical violence but by unconsciously coercing people to COMPLY with the rules and laws designed by Capitalism...I am convinced that the source of the EVIL IS Capitalism...
the only solution is Socialism".
and THAT's from the greatest scientist of the 20th century that gave us the SUM of reality as we know it :
E=mc2.
You, sir, are a maggot.
A fine article that makes good points but why say that Cuban aid was not covered in the "western media" but was covered in the Latin American and Spanish-language media? Where in the world is Latin America? And where in the world are most of the people who speak Spanish? Does "western media" mean "the media that counts" by writing in English? Is there such a thing as linguistic imperialism?
WE can learn many things from the Cubans when it comes to medicine. But the first thing, we americans need to learn, is that we are all mortal. You get one life, with a body, that sooner or later degenerates, if not maintained. Just like your car. You have to help maintain that vehicle (your body) yourself along with help from a medical practitioner.
Medicine is not a right, you are not born with it. It has to be earned or gifted; as through a system where everyone contributes to the good of all. Otherwise, no one can afford it. What we have in the U.S. is a profit motivated business which cares little about real care. Wouldn't it be nice; if we could give all doctors a salary, forgive their debts for medical school, and provide clinics and hospitals where they could practice their art, without having to worry how to make a living.
We cannot fashion swords into plowshares when we are afraid to give something away for nothing.
It is unfortunate that President Obama has chosen to continue the imperialist aggression toward Cuba including the ironic categorization of that country as an exporter of terrorism. Ironic because we have been supporting terrorism against it (and the rest of the planet) for decades while it has been exporting medical assistance and training. Cuba shows the way toward a civilized future.
US press ignores Cuba's aid. Much of the leftist press ignores Israel's aid.
Israel has its own "Haiti" that needs aid.
Joe
I suspect that no matter what Israel does, you won't like it.
I suspect that no matter what Israel does, you won't like it.
Had Cuba sent in marines, war ships and helicopters...it would have received plenty of coverage. But just sending humanitarian help...how boring. Cuba has been providing medical help to Haitians long before the earthquake struck - something that can't be said for the US. As for Israel - is it harvesting organs again?
Let's get something straight here. Cuba's doctors are not 'aid.'
Cuba has a surplus of trained doctors, that is, doctors it doesn't need.
And when Cuba sends these doctors to another country they aren't free. These countries have to trade for them.
So, this isn't aid. Trading something you don't need for something you do isn't helping.
in that case:
would you LIST for us what it is Cuba needs from haiti to trade for what Cuba Doesn't need in its Doctor "surplus?"
last thing I heard -- TRADE was used by people all over the world for centuries using their SURPLUS for things they NEEDED .
heck --if anything the American Empire's "business" complex has proven to be the most adept at Exporting US Surpluses that Americans CAN'T AFFORD to BUY by DUMPING american goods abroad - at the barrel of a gun - calling it "globalization and open markets" and in the process destroying foregn economies.
for that matter -- what is the USA 'trading' with Haiti for by putting 10,000 boots on the ground?
US surplus Ammunition for Haiti's small farmer Pork industry that the USA Mega-Agriculture government subsidized industries DESTROYED decades ago?
come now -- give us a LIST.
of course things have to be paid for.
doctors for their services, they have families to feed in cuba too, u know. it's not as if ONLY AMERICANS can work , who, however in contrast, get paid to feed their families and their doctor McMansions and their huge SUV's in return for "service".
medicine has to be paid for, even if Cuba has barely enough for itself and still shares it with a devasted neighbor, UNLIKE the US Companies who use their clout to PROFIT from misery after having CREATED misery.
so - in this case -- WHERE are the US DOCTORS who give as generously to haiti?
where are the US government AID that you might want to claim does NOT seek "profit" in exchange for "aid?"
everyone in the world knows that if there is ONE country that has STRINGS attached to every package of aid - it is the USA. none other has been more NOTORIOUS for it.
heck -- that is exactly what the former CIA "economic hitman" john perkins exposed in his book and interviews:
that ALL foreign aid by the USA - pushed by people LIKE HIMSELF - are "part of a very, very vicious system of exploitation that dehumanizes and enslaves people everywhere...our policy is designed to render weaker nations PERMANENTLY subjugated to our will and the will of our Chamber of Commerce...i was PART of that empire project of ours".
or perhaps - you are tlaking about Cuba's ulterior motives being so evil - because you KNOW you can't exactly list down things the USA has shown that are WORTH being proud of - or if you DID - they would be easily exposed as the SHAM and Farce and Exploitative Trojan Horses that they really are, anyway, isn't it?
so - you focus on cuba's "bad intentions" to detract from the USA's EVIL ACTS and intentions that span the globe..with haiti just being ONE victim of it.
"our foreign policy has always been geared towards gathering as much of the world's resources unto ourselves at the expense of others....we are a nation of money and war racketeers....for our Big Boss: our supernationalistic Capitalism, our big corporations, big banks, big finance...it has nothing to do with justice and freedom....what we do is EVIL, we are gangsters for capitalism"
General Smedley Butler, US Marines, 1933.