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US Targeting Cuba’s Health-Care System
The U.S. government’s half-century campaign to discredit and destroy Cuba’s experiment with socialism has had many ruthless aspects, but perhaps none more so than efforts to disparage and damage the Caribbean island’s widely admired health-care system
In January, the government of the United States of America saw fit to seize $4.207 million in funds allocated to Cuba by the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the first quarter of 2011, Cuba has charged.
The UN Fund is a $22 billion a year program that works to combat the three deadly pandemics in 150 countries. [Prensa Latina (Cuba), March 12, 2011]
“This mean-spirited policy,” the Cuban government said, “aims to undermine the quality of service provided to the Cuban population and to obstruct the provision of medical assistance in over 100 countries by 40,000 Cuban health workers.”
Most of the funds are used to import expensive AIDS medication to Cuba, where antiretroviral treatment is provided free of charge to some 5,000 HIV patients. [The Militant (US, Socialist Workers Party), April 4, 2011]
The United States sees the Cuban health system and Havana’s sharing of such as a means of Cuba winning friends and allies in the Third World, particularly Latin America; a situation sharply in conflict with long-standing US policy to isolate Cuba.
The United States in recent years has attempted to counter the Cuban international success by dispatching the U.S. Naval Ship “Comfort” to the region.
With 12 operating rooms and a 1,000-bed hospital, the converted oil tanker has performed hundreds of thousands of free surgeries in places such as Belize, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua and Haiti.
However, the Comfort’s port calls likely will not substantially enhance America’s influence in the hemisphere.
“It’s hard for the U.S. to compete with Cuba and Venezuela in this way,” said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a pro-U.S. policy-research group in Washington. “It makes us look like we’re trying to imitate them. Cuba’s doctors aren’t docked at port for a couple days, but are in the country for years.” [Bloomberg News, Sept. 19, 2007]
The recent disclosure by WikiLeaks of U.S. State Department documents included this little item: A cable was sent by Michael Parmly from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana in July 2006, during the run-up to the Non-Aligned Movement conference.
Parmly notes that he is actively looking for “human interest stories and other news that shatters the myth of Cuban medical prowess.”
Michael Moore refers to another WikiLeaks State Department cable: “On Jan. 31, 2008, a State Department official stationed in Havana took a made-up story and sent it back to his headquarters in Washington. Here’s what they came up with: [The official] stated that Cuban authorities have banned Michael Moore’s documentary, ‘Sicko,’ as being subversive.
“Although the film’s intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, the official said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.”
Moore points out an Associated Press story of June 16, 2007 (seven months prior to the cable) with the headline: “Cuban health minister says Moore’s ‘Sicko’ shows ‘human values’ of communist system.”
Moore adds that the people of Cuba were shown the film on national television on April 25, 2008. “The Cubans embraced the film so much it became one of those rare American movies that received a theatrical distribution in Cuba. I personally ensured that a 35mm print got to the Film Institute in Havana. Screenings of Sicko were set up in towns all across the country.” [Huffington Post, Dec. 18, 2010]
The United States also bans the sale to Cuba of vital medical drugs and devices, such as the inhalant agent Sevoflurane which has become the pharmaceutical of excellence for applying general anesthesia to children; and the pharmaceutical Dexmetomidine, of particular usefulness in elderly patients who often must be subjected to extended surgical procedures.
Both of these are produced by the U.S. firm Abbot Laboratories.
Cuban children suffering from lymphoblastic leukemia cannot use Erwinia L-asparaginasa, a medicine commercially known as Elspar, since the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck and Co. refuses to sell this product to Cuba. Washington has also prohibited the U.S.-based Pastors for Peace Caravan from donating three Ford ambulances to Cuba.
Cubans are moreover upset by the denial of visas requested to attend conferences in the field of Anesthesiology and Reanimation that take place in the United States. This creates further barriers for Cuba’s anesthesiologists to update themselves on state of the art anesthesiology, the care of severely ill patients, and the advances achieved in the treatment of pain.
Some of the foregoing are but a small sample of American warfare against the Cuban medical system presented in a Cuban report to the United Nations General Assembly on Oct. 28, 2009.
Finally, we have the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) immigration program, which encourages Cuban doctors who are serving their government overseas to defect and enter the U.S. immediately as refugees.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January of this year that through Dec. 16, 2010, CMPP visas had been issued by U.S. consulates in 65 countries to 1,574 Cuban doctors whose education had been paid for by the financially-struggling Cuban government. [Wall Street Journal, "Cuban Doctors Come In From the Cold" (video), Jan. 14, 2011]
This program, oddly enough, was initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Another victory over terrorism? Or socialism? Or same thing?
Wait until the American conservatives hear that Cuba is the only country in Latin America offering abortion on demand, and free.
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43 Comments so far
Show AllPeople before corporate profits? A dangerous precedent.
William Blum wrote one of the seminal works describing the ruthless and criminal nature of US Foreign Policy entitled "Killing Hope". I suggest all give it a read.
I am happy to see Mr Blum is still at it.
GwNorth:
I agree. Blum's books are excellent. Like Michael Parenti, Blum's books are written in a style that is easy to read and comprehend, so I always recommend them to people, especially young people, who are just gaining an interest in trying to grasp US imperialism.
Also, Blum has a website: killinghope.org where one can read excerpts from his books along with an archive of his monthly "Anti-Empire Reports", which he will also send by email to anyone upon request.
I second (& third) GwNorth's recommendation. I refer to Killing Hope nearly every day - an encyclopedic chronicle of the USA's global adventures. Prepare to take it in small doses, because it tends to enrage.
I'm no fan of Castro, but he does have a better medical system than the US.
He however has the death penalty, forbade Cubans from having PCs or cell phones,
Conservatives may shudder at the fact that Castro offers abortion on demand, but may like the fact that gays aren't allowed to serve in the military.
Castro is also smart. He has doctors in other countries for the long haul.
chameleon,
You are a credit to loyal fecal coliforms and assorted CIA agents protecting profits for corporate assholes everywhere.
Walk proud!
Links?
"¶1. (C) SUMMARY: This cable is a follow up to Reftel and provides anecdotal accounts from Cubans about their healthcare, based on USINT FSHP’s (Foreign Service Health Practitioner) interactions with them, her unauthorized visits to Cuban hospitals, and her care of USINT American and Cuban personnel. End Summary."
"anecdotal evidence: non-scientific observations or studies, which do not provide proof but may assist research efforts"
Dictionary.com
"Anecdotal evidence
A limited selection of examples which support or refute an argument, but which are not supported by scientific or statistical analysis."
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anecdotal_evidence
I wouldn't expect the US government to produce an objective report on Cuban medical care and the link contained nothing but anecdotal (i.e. unverifiable) evidence. Just the kind of unsupported documentation I'd expect from someone who cannot make their case with empirical evidence.
If you have any links that back up your claims and have some element of objectivity, please supply them.
In other words, you've got nothing.
Probably nothing that would satisfy you. I went to visit my birth country in Eastern Europe after 20 years abroad last year and there 20somethigns there that think the communist period were good times and there's no way convincing them otherwise.
So yeah, some people have to experience things for themselves in order to believe them. Some of them would actually deserve it.
Your inability to back up your contention with facts doesn't imply a bias on my part, try as you may to make it look like that.
You simply can't support your argument.
chameleon reality
Cuba is a country full of contradictions, including their health care system. They have one of the most comprehensive systems in the world, which includes a huge number of very well-trained physicians ... and yet they are chronically short on many of the most basic medicines, drugs, and medical equipment. Which makes it very difficult for a physician to do his/her job effectively.
In part, the latter can be blamed on the U.S. for not allowing more freer exchange with Cuba. In part, the latter can be blamed on the perpetually floundering Cuban economy, which struggles to earn enough hard currency to acquire the medicines and equipment it desperately needs. "Exporting" many of its well-trained doctors (of which it has a surplus) to other parts of the world has helped somewhat.
So, while it's no medical paradise, Cuba is way ahead of most of its Latin American and Caribbean counterparts in the medical care it provides to ALL of its people. I lived in Honduras for three years, and every time I saw video from Cuba, my initial reaction was -- damn, those people look healthy!
I am impressed with the "bottom-up" structure of Cuba's medical care. Every local neighborhood has a full-time medical professional available to provide first-response medical attention when needed, and to dispense pro-active healthly-lifestyle advice the rest of the time. When the medical issues are serious enough, they refer those they see "up" to receive more professional medical attention.
There are a lot of things that Cuba does very very poorly. However, in at least three areas: universal health care, education, and cultural activities, they do very well given the per-capita income of the country. Just my opinion based on visits and Cubans I've known.
I think that, by "He has doctors in other countries for the long haul," the writer is referring to such arrangements as trading the services of Cuban doctors to perform eye surgeries and give other medical care to Venezuela's poor in exchange for oil.
How positively astounding that small Latin American countries who have the temerity to choose their own economic systems are considered a threat to the United States. Will we ever grow up enough to learn from them instead of trying to undermine them?
I spent a few weeks in Cuba in 2007.Wonderful people. It is sad that Americans are so propagandized against their system, which from my experience at least delivered
a basic level of education ,food ,and medical care to its people.
What is America*s excuse for 50 million uninsured Americans?
Is it that death from a treatable illness is preferable to death from the random
terrorist? By the way ,not One American has died on American soil from a foreign
terrorist attack since 9/11 yet we have spent a Trillion dollars under the guise of
"protecting Americans.''
Really, the sole and only agenda of US ruling elites is to attack and if possible destroy any and all programs which actually serve the needs of ordinary people. And they are doing this both here at home and abroad. Fueled by endless greed and power needs, they are the scourge of the earth's peoples, indeed of the planet's entire life systems. Can people organize and act to defeat them in time, or will they take us all over the cliff into oblivion? Many thanks to William Blum for his years of work and excellent books. I join GWNorth in encouraging folks to read them.
William Blum is the foremost historian of our generation. His books should be in every classroom, home, and library. He is an amazing researcher, author, and believe it or not - he is also an amazingly nice guy with an unsurpassed sense of humor.
P.S. How about a BLUM/NADER ticket next time....or should it be NADER/BLUM..............
My god, the hypocrisy of the US and the depravatuon of the sociopaths that run. Sends our money, ship and personel for free surgies while doing all it can to keep us in the murdering health insurance scam. Taking that money is the same as the sanctions against countries that don't do the elites bidding. Killing 500,000 Iraqi children before the bombing with depleted uranium bombs. So we can liberate them. From life. Same as other nations. I am ashamed at what the US does to people and the people that support the wars. Military families who have to take care of their maimed troops deserve it.
Congress gets free health care, tax cuts and the Tea heads support that. The stupidity of Americans is oustounding.
Eduardo Galleano once wrote of a conversation with a friend who had just returned from a trip to Cuba. The friend said there were shortages of everything - everything except dignity. He said they had enough of that to export it.
I'm glad to see we're fighting to give Cubans the right to go bankrupt due to illness. It may be a long struggle but the least we can do to support this great cause is to deprive Cuban children of anesthesia.
What hypocrisy.
The Health Care Issue is really ugly and quite crude. I have said this before we are the only so called civilized western country that wants to kill any hope of health care for it's citizens.
Hope is internal but stupidity is so simple when it comes from our leaderless so called politicians.
Oh! by the way the politicians in Washington get free health care and its employees pay for it. You got that right the employees pay for health care.
Come 2012 we better vote out all the anti-worker politicians.
Another zinger from William Blum.
It's a measure of corruption at the United Nations that the United States can enact a decades-long economic blockade of Cuba and not be condemned for it. Such a blockade is an act of war, and an illegal one, since there's no provocation. The Cuban revolution may have taken control over mob-like U.S. business assets in Cuba at the time, but that's not an assault on the United States. There is no legal reason for a U.S. war footing.
As Henry Kissinger said of the U.S.-backed Chilean coup, the United States was acting to eliminate the "threat of a good example." Despite Cuba's poverty and dictatorship, which are seriously backward trends, the government there does attempt to address social needs. So, Cubans fare well compared with other Latin-American states. And that's why the United States has consistently failed with its invasion, terror and assassination attempts over the years.
Obama's healthcare plan - which ensures that everyone pays the insurance companies that currently limit care - is shown up by the free care in poor Cuba, as well as the free care in rich Canada. Socialized medicine clearly works very well, but Americans voting within the two-party system will never get it.
The idea that the United States would pour money into propaganda efforts, rather than set up a single-payer system in the United States, speaks volumes about political thinking within the state, which is supposed to represent the commonwealth - not the interests of insurance companies.
Annually, for 20 years now, the UN General Assembly has voted to condemn the US Empire's policy toward Cuba:
"The United Nations has voted (187-3) again to condemn the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. For the 18th consecutive year, the General Assembly passed this resolution with nearly universal support. Such an unpopular policy surely deserves a second look; it deserves to be stopped." http://www.lawg.org/action-center/78-end-the-travel-ban-on-cuba/534-un-condemns-obamas-cuba-policy
Since the above quote, two more votes have occured with similar results. That you think the UN is corrupt proves the effectiveness of the US Propaganda System.
The USA has consistently used civilian deaths as a weapon of the military and as a tool of the State Dept. Remember when the Iraqi kids were dying because the US destroyed the water systems. The Quakers and others tried to take water purification systems to Iraq - they were denied the right to that humanitarian mission. History will ask why the US people allowed such policies. Everyone who voted dem/repub was and still is complicit.
Never forget the 500,000 dead Iraqi children - and never forget that the USA government not only admitted guilt in those deaths, but said that the deaths 'were worth it'. Are you STILL proud to be an American?
Don't forget that Madeline Albright said it was "worth it" having killed a million children in Iraq. And today I read that Secretary of War Gates said that the US will expand its footprint in southeast Asia, despite our economic depression, where we are cutting back on health care and school for the working class.
Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it."
--60 Minutes (5/12/96)
Our leaders are monsters. In my view, anyone who votes for any candidate from either the democrats or the republicans is an immoral baby killer. The time has come for decent people to take a stand and call out all of the baby killers, even if they are our friends and relatives.
Albright was also up to her eyeballs in the rwanda massacres.
This is par for course with the US Empire. The appearance is to be compassionate and caring. the substance is to be brutal and homocidal.
For example, Haiti's president was told in no uncertain terms by the US ambassador (new wikileaks from DemocracyNow) that the increase to $5.00 and hour from $3.00 and hour minimum wage was "bad" for Haiti, as was the 40% deferred, low interest financing on oil offered by Venezuela.
Orwellian bullshit resulting in death for those who don't want to be slaves to predatory capitalism is what our government does.
That president of Haiti (I'm not talking about Aristide) was recently shown the door.
It has also come out that the US ambassador to Honduras was very upset about the same oil deal Venezuela was offering Honduras (40% deferred payment). When the US was asked if they would provide that deal to replace Venezuela, they refused. Honduras stuck with the oil deal and a plan to raise the minimum wage.
And so, the USA overthrew the government for corporate America.
God Damnit, people! We can't keep Central, South America and the Caribbean in poverty and ill health just to please a bunch of corporate assholes.
For those "my country right or wrong" morons that frequent CD, you are making it quite clear to decent Americans that you believe humane behavior is a disease.
It is you prevaricating liars who are the disease. Take your fake patriotism in put it where the sun doesn't shine. You and your corporate pals are what has destroyed the USA.
I'm going to forward this to MMoore and ask him to spearhead a collection of say $1 from about 4.25 million of us and then forward it on to Cuba.
Sometimes don't it make you sick being an American when you hear things like this? At least this presents the chance for us to make it right. We sure got a lot of fixin' to do!