My political views....

[Goat Boy©]

You are going to start with a story from the miami herald? The cubans in Miami have been waiting for Cuba to fall ever sense they emptied the treasury and ran as Castro's army took the island. Seriously why not publish a story from "I hate cuba magazine."

OK, apologies, here's some more:

http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/asce/pdfs/volume12/sixto.pdf

The termination of Soviet and CMEA aid as well as drastic reduction of trade led to the decrease of GDP by 35 to 40 percent. In 2000, GDP was still 18 percent below the 1989 level (Mesa-Lago 2002). The crisis had a negative impact on the importation of medical equipment, spare parts and medicines. The lack of supplies accompanied by a deterioration of basic infrastructure (potable

water and sanitation) resulted in a setback of many of the previous accomplishments. The strengthening of the U.S. economic embargo in the second half of the 1990s contributed to these problems. Starting in 1997, the government implemented many austerity measures along with various organic food and herbal medicine programs.

***

166 pesos per capita in 2000, an increase of 69 percent (see Table 1). However, the real value of those expenditures was severely reduced by inflation. (The series between 1976-89 and 1989-99 cannot be technically connected because they have different

base years.) Real expenditures increased from 34.7 to 91.1 pesos in 1976-1989, but declined from 65.3 to 44.4 pesos in 1989-1999 (Table 1). In 1989 the Cuban government spent US$227.3 million in the importation of health-related products, but that amount was reduced to US$67 million in 1993; although such imports rose to US$112 million in 1997, they were still half their value before

the crisis (MINSAP 1999). In 1997, 38 percent of the healthcare budget was assigned to primary care and 46 percent to hospital care. Of the total health budget, 50 to 54 percent was spent on salaries (Figueras 1998). However, since the early 1990s, there has been a sharp decline (15 percent in 1990-94; 3.1 percent in 1997) in the expenditures on the maintenance and construction of basic health sector infrastructure, as well as on hospitals and policlinics (MINSAP 1999). The lack of investment in water and sanitation has contributed to the increase of contagious diseases (see below). Thus, “the out-of pocket expenditures assumed by families include drugs prescribed on an outpatient basis, hearing, dental, and orthopedic processes, wheelchairs, crutches, and similar devices, as well as eyeglasses” (PAHO 1999, 7). Many families spend over 400 pesos a month on these items while the average monthly salary in 2000 was 234 pesos (ONE 2001; Sixto 2001).

***

http://www.autentico.org/oa09474.php

Myriam Marquez

Commentary

Published in The Orlando Sentinel on September 29, 2000

Fidel Castro recently offered to send Cuban doctors to poor neighborhoods in the United States. Funny guy.

Anyone who has followed the Cuban dictator's obsession with Uncle Sam knows that the offer was Castro's little joke, meant as a big insult.

Communist propaganda aside, the stark reality of Cuba's primitive health-care system should give us pause.

Health care for the poor in the United States isn't all it could be for such a rich nation, but Cuba's medical care is outright dangerous.

That isn't a conclusion culled from right-wing Cuban-American propaganda. It's the sad reality, witnessed by Cuban defector after defector.

Two recent defectors, Dr. Leonel Cordova Rodriguez, a general practitioner, and Dr. Noris Pena Martinez, a dentist, spent more than a month in a Zimbabwe prison until international pressure forced that African nation to release them. The doctors, both in their 30s, were part of a 107-member Cuban medical mission to Zimbabwe. They say they decided to defect because they couldn't take the revolution's lies any more.

In testimony on Capitol Hill last week, Cordova called Cuba's health-care system a "disgraceful situation" and put the responsibility squarely on "the totalitarian regime imposed by communism in Cuba."

Ending the U.S. embargo against Cuba, both doctors said, wouldn't improve the lot of the average Cuban either.

"With or without the U.S. embargo, the Cuban people will suffer," Pena said glumly.

Such pessimism comes from living through decades of broken promises. Today, Cuba has its own system of apartheid.

"Foreign tourists and Cuban revolutionary leaders enjoy the best medical attention, in luxurious and well-equipped hospitals, without feeling the lack of resources and what the human cost is to the Cuban population, who, in turn, are subjected to the worst restrictions," Cordova said. "While in the dollar shops you can find the existence of many resources, these are not at the reach of the average Cuban. Made in Cuba but property only of the Cuban government."

Cordova's reference to "made in Cuba" speaks to the double standard. Cuba's government-run pharmaceutical industry rations medicines to its own people even as it sells the drugs to other countries. Cordova counted on Catholic charities to help provide drugs, but those resources are limited because the Cuban government sets up obstacles.

The double standard applies to the island's medical schools, too. Cordova said Cuban medical students are trained "in adverse situations, without advanced medical texts and with obsolete eqiupment and inhumane living conditions."

Cordova contrasted that with the "thousands of foreigners [who] are studying at the Ibero- american Medical School in Havana, enjoying a free gift, the ideal conditions to develop and achieve quality education. The vast majority of them [are] millionaires in their countries of origin, as we saw in Zimbabwe."

Cuban doctors are forced to delay care, risking death to patients, all in an effort to give Cubans time to find a relative with U.S. dollars to buy the care that Castro's revolution promised for free.

"There's a consensus that Fidel is not what the country needs or wants and that we've been manipulated," Cordova said. "That's one of the reasons we need to let people know what's happening in Cuba."

Cuba's much-vaunted health-care system, the pride of Castro's Marxist revolution, is a sham, and ending the embargo won't change any of it. So say the children of his revolution, even as the world once again turns a deaf ear.

I'm an adamant supporter of universal health care, straight to the tune of Tommy Douglas. But the claims made about Cuba are just ridiculous. Moore even went on in writing to claim the Cuban system provides superior service than the Canadian one. They've done a fantastic job based upon the limited resources that they have, but to give them the status that they 'apparently' have......

[madmax]

I really don't see communism haunting us as an alternative, where are the successful communist states in today's world? And please don't say China.

Of course we can say CHINA. China has a Communist government. IIRC Lenin or Trotsky, believed that the advantages of Communism would attract capital investment from Capitalist foreign nations. Communism could provide a better trained workforce at fraction of the price.

However, the battle became one of Democracy vs Totalatarianism, and fear that the communist system would prevails which also scared the hell out of Capitalists.

Today, investing Capital into the Communist China is more an advantage then investing in "Democratic" non communist Russia.

Vietnam has turned out to be a successful communist nation.

Vietnam Defeated, France, the USA, China, and Freed Cambodia from Pol Pot. It went on to become a peaceful society and attracts significant investment from the USA. The blood of many Americans is forgotten for profit, and the failure of the war, and amends makes it all possible for former vets to return to Vietnam.

Gotta say, bad as Cuba Is, it's far superior to Haiti and the Dominican Republic and many other Carribean Nations.

And that's inspite of an embargo approaching 50 years. The country is dirt poor, yet survives better then countries with a Capitalist Havens.

Wait until that Blockade ends, the Cubas want to maintain their independance and alot of their systems, and the extra money that will flow in will pay for it. Cuba will become a Giant south of Florida, soon as these Castros die. But there health is so good, long life must be a curse

[Alta4ever]

I define a centrist as somebody that examines the situation and policies available, and then makes an informed decision as to what will do best for the geographical area that s/he represents.

As opposed to sticking to an ideology and refusing to look at any other alternative. IE: Religion is evil, homosexuality is immoral, it's always right to unionize and the worker is always right, no it isn't, the margins are always right. Etc, etc....

Thanks, although I thought that was just pragmatic forward thinking of a libertarian.