By Friends of Cuba in Antigua and Barbuda
The Cuban medical brigades are rooted in the internationalist spirit of the Cuban Revolution, which has long been established policy, and its success can be traced right back to the very beginning of the revolutionary process.
When Fidel Castro came to power with the triumph of the Rebel Army, on January 1st 1959, there were dire health conditions in Cuba, especially in rural areas, just as there were widespread poverty and illiteracy.
Of the few young people from poor families, who had got the opportunity to study medicine, most were waiting for many years, to save enough money to pay for graduation. It was the revolution that allowed them to graduate as doctors free of cost.
Many doctors, who were members of elite families, left the country, rather than participate in a new, socialized healthcare system. It was therefore necessary to train as many doctors as would be needed, as soon as possible.
But the Cuban revolutionary leadership was never just concerned about Cuba. Theirs was the cause of human dignity. The immortal Ernesto Che’ Guevara, a medical doctor from Argentina, and who gave his life in Bolivia, while fighting to liberate the people of that country, was a passionate humanist and internationalist.
Che’ gave up his position in government, and role as head of the Central Bank of Cuba, to be a guerilla fighter and doctor on the African continent, among those struggling to liberate themselves from colonialism and white supremacy. That was in the true spirit of uplifting all humanity; the spirit of the Cuban revolution.
Today, as part of the revolutionary commitment born of that great internationalist vision, Cuba has positioned herself in the forefront of healthcare, not only for her own citizens, but for people around the world. Thousands of young people from around the world, primarily the Third World, have been trained as medical doctors in Cuba, and Cuban doctors can be found working around the world as part of cooperation with the various governments.
That has been accomplished by the extraordinary effort and revolutionary generosity of a people blockaded economically and financially, and under constant threat and hostility. The Cuban government and people know what they have had to do and what they must do for the survival of their revolution and for its internationalist thrust. The Cuban professionals fulfill their internationalist missions with great enthusiasm and pride. They also benefit personally in the process.
Here in Antigua and Barbuda, as elsewhere, the work of the Cuban medical brigades has been invaluable, especially in affording us a range and level of specialist services that we so badly lacked until recently, in an increasingly modern society, where healthcare is easily accessible to all. The late Leonard Tim Hector, the man responsible for introducing Antigua and Barbuda to the Cuban Revolution, did not have the fortune of specialist intensive care here, because it was not until a decade after his death in our ICU, that we got our first intensive care specialists from Cuba.
We therefore reject and soundly denounce the repeated false pronouncements made by the evil and uncaring Trump regime, against the Cuban Medical Brigade program, in an effort to vilify the Cuban leadership, demean the internationalist engagements of the Cuban professionals, and cripple the noble revolution.
Leaders of the USA and senselessly bitter Miami Cubans choose to be shamelessly loud in pouring scorn on Cuba, a little blockaded and struggling island in the Caribbean, that is coming to the rescue of even countries in the developed world, while the average person in that country, which is the wealthiest in the world, cannot afford healthcare.
With the most sophisticated medical technology imaginable, and with an abundance of super specialists in the medical field, the cost of healthcare to average persons is so prohibitive, that they avoid it, even at the risk of death. Because in the USA’s version of healthcare, a trip on an ambulance and hospitalization for a significant medical intervention can create such a huge bill, that the patient becomes homeless afterwards. They can’t find enough money to pay rent and buy food, and if their job is even a minimum wage job, it might disqualify them from a space in a homeless shelter.
Meanwhile, here is poor and stoic Cuba, not only taking care of her own, but positioning herself to help the governments of our region and elsewhere to help their people. So helping and supporting Cuba is helping and supporting ourselves. Defending Cuba’s sovereign right to self-determination is defending our own.
Our governments must not flinch. Long live the Cuban cooperation!
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