Aa
U.S. to Restore Full Relations With Cuba, Erasing a Last Trace of Cold War Hostility
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday ordered the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and the opening of an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century as he vowed to “cut loose the shackles of the past” and sweep aside one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.
The surprise announcement came at the end of 18 months of secret talks that produced a prisoner swap negotiated with the help of Pope Francis and concluded by a telephone call between Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro. The historic deal broke an enduring stalemate between two countries divided by just 90 miles of water but oceans of mistrust and hostility dating from the days of Theodore Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill and the nuclear brinkmanship of the Cuban missile crisis.
“We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries,” Mr. Obama said in a nationally televised statement from the White House. The deal, he added, will “begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas” and move beyond a “rigid policy that is rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.”
In doing so, Mr. Obama ventured into diplomatic territory where the last 10 presidents refused to go, and Republicans, along with a senior Democrat, quickly characterized the rapprochement with the Castro family as appeasement of the hemisphere’s leading dictatorship. Republican lawmakers who will take control of the Senate as well as the House next month made clear they would resist lifting the 54-year-old trade embargo.
“This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie, the lie and the illusion that more commerce and access to money and goods will translate to political freedom for the Cuban people,” said Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and son of Cuban immigrants. “All this is going to do is give the Castro regime, which controls every aspect of Cuban life, the opportunity to manipulate these changes to perpetuate itself in power.”
For good or ill, the move represented a dramatic turning point in relations with an island that for generations has captivated and vexed its giant northern neighbor. From the 18th century, when successive presidents coveted it, Cuba loomed large in the American imagination long before Fidel Castro stormed from the mountains and seized power in 1959.
Mr. Castro’s alliance with the Soviet Union made Cuba a geopolitical flash point in a global struggle of ideology and power. President Dwight D. Eisenhower imposed the first trade embargo in 1960 and broke off diplomatic relations in January 1961, just weeks before leaving office and seven months before Mr. Obama was born. Under President John F. Kennedy, the failed Bay of Pigs operation aimed at toppling Mr. Castro in April 1961 and the 13-day showdown over Soviet missiles installed in Cuba the following year cemented its status as a ground zero in the Cold War.
But the relationship remained frozen in time long after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a thorn in the side of multiple presidents who waited for Mr. Castro’s demise and experienced false hope when he passed power to his brother, Raúl. Even as the United States built relations with Communist nations like China and Vietnam, Cuba remained one of just a few nations, along with Iran and North Korea, that had no formal ties with Washington.
Mr. Obama has long expressed hope of transforming relations with Cuba and relaxed some travel restrictions in 2011. But further moves remained untenable as long as Cuba held Alan P. Gross, an American government contractor arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban prison for trying to deliver satellite telephone equipment capable of cloaking connections to the Internet.
After winning re-election, Mr. Obama resolved to make Cuba a priority for his second term and authorized secret negotiations led by two aides, Benjamin J. Rhodes and Ricardo Zúñiga, who conducted nine meetings with Cuban counterparts starting in June 2013, most of them in Canada, which has ties with Havana.
Pope Francis encouraged the talks with letters to Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro and had the Vatican host a meeting in October to finalize the terms of the deal. Mr. Obama spoke with Mr. Castro by telephone on Tuesday to seal the agreement in a call that lasted more than 45 minutes, the first direct substantive contact between the leaders of the two countries in more than 50 years.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Gross walked out of a Cuban prison and boarded an American military plane that flew him to Washington, accompanied by his wife, Judy. While eating a corned beef sandwich on rye bread with mustard during the flight, Mr. Gross received a call from Mr. Obama. “He’s back where he belongs, in America with his family, home for Hanukkah,” Mr. Obama said later.
For its part, the United States sent back three imprisoned Cuban spies who were caught in 1998 and had become a cause célèbre for the Havana government. They were swapped for Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a Cuban who had worked as an agent for American intelligence and had been in a Cuban prison for nearly 20 years, according to a senior American official. Mr. Gross was not technically part of the swap, officials said, but was released separately on “humanitarian grounds,” a distinction critics found unpersuasive.
The United States will ease restrictions on remittances, travel and banking, while Cuba will allow more Internet access and release 53 Cubans identified as political prisoners by the United States. Although the embargo will remain in place, the president called for an “honest and serious debate about lifting” it, which would require an act of Congress.
Mr. Castro spoke simultaneously on Cuban television, taking to the airwaves with no introduction and announcing that he had spoken by telephone with Mr. Obama on Tuesday.
“We have been able to make headway in the solution of some topics of mutual interest for both nations,” he declared, emphasizing the release of the three Cubans. “President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgment of our people.”
Only afterward did Mr. Castro mention the reopening of diplomatic relations. “This in no way means that the heart of the matter has been resolved,” he said. “The economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes enormous human and economic damages to our country, must cease.” But, he added, “the progress made in our exchanges proves that it is possible to find solutions to many problems.”
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday ordered the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba and the opening of an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century as he vowed to “cut loose the shackles of the past” and sweep aside one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.
The surprise announcement came at the end of 18 months of secret talks that produced a prisoner swap negotiated with the help of Pope Francis and concluded by a telephone call between Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro. The historic deal broke an enduring stalemate between two countries divided by just 90 miles of water but oceans of mistrust and hostility dating from the days of Theodore Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill and the nuclear brinkmanship of the Cuban missile crisis.
“We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries,” Mr. Obama said in a nationally televised statement from the White House. The deal, he added, will “begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas” and move beyond a “rigid policy that is rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.”
In doing so, Mr. Obama ventured into diplomatic territory where the last 10 presidents refused to go, and Republicans, along with a senior Democrat, quickly characterized the rapprochement with the Castro family as appeasement of the hemisphere’s leading dictatorship. Republican lawmakers who will take control of the Senate as well as the House next month made clear they would resist lifting the 54-year-old trade embargo.
“This entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie, the lie and the illusion that more commerce and access to money and goods will translate to political freedom for the Cuban people,” said Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and son of Cuban immigrants. “All this is going to do is give the Castro regime, which controls every aspect of Cuban life, the opportunity to manipulate these changes to perpetuate itself in power.”
For good or ill, the move represented a dramatic turning point in relations with an island that for generations has captivated and vexed its giant northern neighbor. From the 18th century, when successive presidents coveted it, Cuba loomed large in the American imagination long before Fidel Castro stormed from the mountains and seized power in 1959.
Mr. Castro’s alliance with the Soviet Union made Cuba a geopolitical flash point in a global struggle of ideology and power. President Dwight D. Eisenhower imposed the first trade embargo in 1960 and broke off diplomatic relations in January 1961, just weeks before leaving office and seven months before Mr. Obama was born. Under President John F. Kennedy, the failed Bay of Pigs operation aimed at toppling Mr. Castro in April 1961 and the 13-day showdown over Soviet missiles installed in Cuba the following year cemented its status as a ground zero in the Cold War.
But the relationship remained frozen in time long after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, a thorn in the side of multiple presidents who waited for Mr. Castro’s demise and experienced false hope when he passed power to his brother, Raúl. Even as the United States built relations with Communist nations like China and Vietnam, Cuba remained one of just a few nations, along with Iran and North Korea, that had no formal ties with Washington.
Mr. Obama has long expressed hope of transforming relations with Cuba and relaxed some travel restrictions in 2011. But further moves remained untenable as long as Cuba held Alan P. Gross, an American government contractor arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban prison for trying to deliver satellite telephone equipment capable of cloaking connections to the Internet.
After winning re-election, Mr. Obama resolved to make Cuba a priority for his second term and authorized secret negotiations led by two aides, Benjamin J. Rhodes and Ricardo Zúñiga, who conducted nine meetings with Cuban counterparts starting in June 2013, most of them in Canada, which has ties with Havana.
Pope Francis encouraged the talks with letters to Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro and had the Vatican host a meeting in October to finalize the terms of the deal. Mr. Obama spoke with Mr. Castro by telephone on Tuesday to seal the agreement in a call that lasted more than 45 minutes, the first direct substantive contact between the leaders of the two countries in more than 50 years.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Gross walked out of a Cuban prison and boarded an American military plane that flew him to Washington, accompanied by his wife, Judy. While eating a corned beef sandwich on rye bread with mustard during the flight, Mr. Gross received a call from Mr. Obama. “He’s back where he belongs, in America with his family, home for Hanukkah,” Mr. Obama said later.
For its part, the United States sent back three imprisoned Cuban spies who were caught in 1998 and had become a cause célèbre for the Havana government. They were swapped for Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a Cuban who had worked as an agent for American intelligence and had been in a Cuban prison for nearly 20 years, according to a senior American official. Mr. Gross was not technically part of the swap, officials said, but was released separately on “humanitarian grounds,” a distinction critics found unpersuasive.
The United States will ease restrictions on remittances, travel and banking, while Cuba will allow more Internet access and release 53 Cubans identified as political prisoners by the United States. Although the embargo will remain in place, the president called for an “honest and serious debate about lifting” it, which would require an act of Congress.
Mr. Castro spoke simultaneously on Cuban television, taking to the airwaves with no introduction and announcing that he had spoken by telephone with Mr. Obama on Tuesday.
“We have been able to make headway in the solution of some topics of mutual interest for both nations,” he declared, emphasizing the release of the three Cubans. “President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgment of our people.”
Only afterward did Mr. Castro mention the reopening of diplomatic relations. “This in no way means that the heart of the matter has been resolved,” he said. “The economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes enormous human and economic damages to our country, must cease.” But, he added, “the progress made in our exchanges proves that it is possible to find solutions to many problems.”
I stand corrected. The Dalai Lama recently repeated it but didn't claim it as his own, mea culpa, the aging brain does it again !
"it doesn't cost anything to live there, the government makes sure you are taken care of and healthcare is free." I guess that's what they'd like for us, here in the U.S.
I said, years ago that someday, all our money would be sent to the government and they'd give us back what they thought we should have to live on...
I said, years ago that someday, all our money would be sent to the government and they'd give us back what they thought we should have to live on...
Theoretically, that's what makes Cuba such a wonderful place to live. it doesn't cost anything to live there, the government makes sure you are taken care of and healthcare is free.
Its a utopian society. Wonderful, I tell you... wonderful.
Its a utopian society. Wonderful, I tell you... wonderful.
I read an article that said doctors make only $30-$50/month - imagine our doctors (or anyone, for that matter) living on that, here in the U.S.
As far as housing - there may not actually be "homeless", because everyone has been assigned a place they're "supposed" to live, but most of the homes are so crowded that many people don't stay where they're supposed to. Even divorced couples, often have to stay together after a divorce, because there's nowhere for them to live separately. And really, what can one do with $19/month?
As far as housing - there may not actually be "homeless", because everyone has been assigned a place they're "supposed" to live, but most of the homes are so crowded that many people don't stay where they're supposed to. Even divorced couples, often have to stay together after a divorce, because there's nowhere for them to live separately. And really, what can one do with $19/month?
Way to go, Merka! Run in there and save the day, just like we do all over the globe.... wait a second.....
Minds are like parachutes.
They only function when they are open.
- James Dewar
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded
that our brains drop out.
- Richard Dawkins
They only function when they are open.
- James Dewar
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded
that our brains drop out.
- Richard Dawkins
I'd like to point something out that became clear to me while traveling, how much someone makes is only relevant when you know how much it costs to live.
So, when a teacher in Turkey told us he makes $500/month is sounds very low. However on that salary, he can afford food, housing, health care, and his wife doesn't need to work. She stays home and cares for the kids.
Now, I'm not saying that's the case in Cuba but it is something to consider when one starts spouting numbers.
Vance, I feel I can learn something from anyone which doesn't mean I'd want to be them or live where they do. It's called keeping an open mind.
As the Dalai Lama said, minds are much like parachutes, they only work when open.
So, when a teacher in Turkey told us he makes $500/month is sounds very low. However on that salary, he can afford food, housing, health care, and his wife doesn't need to work. She stays home and cares for the kids.
Now, I'm not saying that's the case in Cuba but it is something to consider when one starts spouting numbers.
Vance, I feel I can learn something from anyone which doesn't mean I'd want to be them or live where they do. It's called keeping an open mind.
As the Dalai Lama said, minds are much like parachutes, they only work when open.
here's a good link El
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yank_tank
Houston eh, lots of layoffs hitting yet? Many of the shale oil plays and North sea are getting hit hard, not economical at current WTI prices. Capex being slashed for next year (Conoco 20% cut) ain't good for jobs or suppliers.
These lower gas prices are great.......but no one is talking about the lost jobs, cancelled pipe orders etc. There's a good argument to be made for a recession in the future as a result of oil prices being to low...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yank_tank
Houston eh, lots of layoffs hitting yet? Many of the shale oil plays and North sea are getting hit hard, not economical at current WTI prices. Capex being slashed for next year (Conoco 20% cut) ain't good for jobs or suppliers.
These lower gas prices are great.......but no one is talking about the lost jobs, cancelled pipe orders etc. There's a good argument to be made for a recession in the future as a result of oil prices being to low...
But how is it that they can actually KEEP them on the road?
I feel sure our highways & roadways are superior in quality and quantity (us vs cuba), so you'd think that we'd have just as many here as they do there.
Why do you think there's so many over there?
Or... are there just as many here, and people just have them in collections and don't drive them (because the cuban's HAVE TO DRIVE theirs, out of necessity, as they can't afford new cars).
It seems like every documentary I watch on cuba, there's all these cool "Christine" type cars driving around, like it's no big deal. Here in Houston, if I'm driving around and I see even ONE in a given year, I count myself lucky. You just don't see them on the roads.
I feel sure our highways & roadways are superior in quality and quantity (us vs cuba), so you'd think that we'd have just as many here as they do there.
Why do you think there's so many over there?
Or... are there just as many here, and people just have them in collections and don't drive them (because the cuban's HAVE TO DRIVE theirs, out of necessity, as they can't afford new cars).
It seems like every documentary I watch on cuba, there's all these cool "Christine" type cars driving around, like it's no big deal. Here in Houston, if I'm driving around and I see even ONE in a given year, I count myself lucky. You just don't see them on the roads.
I'm chuckling, my father has said,"that Castro outlived all of them".
They have actually made some changes since his brother took over, some private enterprise is now allowed. I saw an interview where a woman had her own sowing shop and made $129.00 month--big money on a relative basis.
I was thinking about those 50 year old cars, in the interview they mention 60,000 prewar models still on the road for daily use, unreal. You have to give them credit for Cuban ingenuity, imagine how hard it is to get parts and keep those cars running. (I'm sure they can get them from Canada)
They have actually made some changes since his brother took over, some private enterprise is now allowed. I saw an interview where a woman had her own sowing shop and made $129.00 month--big money on a relative basis.
I was thinking about those 50 year old cars, in the interview they mention 60,000 prewar models still on the road for daily use, unreal. You have to give them credit for Cuban ingenuity, imagine how hard it is to get parts and keep those cars running. (I'm sure they can get them from Canada)
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/cuba
Seems like a wonderful place.
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page10.htm
The link above shows that "free healthcare" in Cuba has a long way to go before it could really even be confused as "care".
Seems like a wonderful place.
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page10.htm
The link above shows that "free healthcare" in Cuba has a long way to go before it could really even be confused as "care".
It looks like the average income got a fat raise. From $16.00 a month to a whopping $19.00.
If they lift the Trade Embargo, the first thing they should do is invite Americans to come to Cuba for Car Auctions and let the families keep the money. They could probably retire off the money they would make from the Vintage Cars they still drive.
“The average monthly salary in Cuba rose 17 per cent between 2006-2011 to the equivalent of $19, the state statistics office said Monday.
That meant the average monthly wage of workers in Cuba -- where the Communist-ruled state controls more than 90 per cent of the economy -- climbed from the equivalent of $16 a month in 2006 to $19 last year, the office said on its website.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/43876/Business/Economy/Cuban-salaries-rise-to--a-month-.aspx
If they lift the Trade Embargo, the first thing they should do is invite Americans to come to Cuba for Car Auctions and let the families keep the money. They could probably retire off the money they would make from the Vintage Cars they still drive.
“The average monthly salary in Cuba rose 17 per cent between 2006-2011 to the equivalent of $19, the state statistics office said Monday.
That meant the average monthly wage of workers in Cuba -- where the Communist-ruled state controls more than 90 per cent of the economy -- climbed from the equivalent of $16 a month in 2006 to $19 last year, the office said on its website.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/43876/Business/Economy/Cuban-salaries-rise-to--a-month-.aspx
OH maybe you can go to Cuba and tell us all how great life is there? That's why so many people come to America from Cuba because they hate the good life and want to live in poor conditions.
I don't think that's true. Here's an article I found regarding the health care system:
"If there is one thing for which Cuba has received praise over the years, it is the Communist government's state-run healthcare system.
Much of this praise is well-deserved. Despite its scarce resources, Cuba has one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates - just slightly lower than that of the US. Life expectancy is 77.5 years, one of the world's highest. And until not so long ago, there was one doctor for every 170 citizens - the highest patient-per-doctor ratio in the world.
Of course, the government can afford so many doctors because they are paid extremely low salaries by international standards. The average is between $30 and $50 per month.
And the benefits of this healthcare have not only been felt by Cubans.
Under Fidel Castro, the former Cuban president, hundreds of child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, left without proper medical attention after the collapse of the Soviet Union, were invited to Cuba. A hospital was constructed to treat them while they and their families set up temporary residence in Tarara, a beautiful seaside neighbourhood near Havana. Many remain there today.
Prevention before cure
" Many medicines that cannot be found at a pharmacy are easily bought on the black market. Some doctors, nurses and cleaning staff smuggle the medicine out of the hospitals in a bid to make extra cash. "
The Cuban system works - or is supposed to work - by emphasising primary and preventative healthcare.
For any country, but particularly for a poor nation such as Cuba, it is much easier and less expensive to prevent than to cure.
Every square block is assigned a family doctor, or general practitioner, who lives in a small, two-storey house in the neighbourhood. The bottom floor is used to receive patients and the top floor becomes the doctor's living quarters.
He or she ensures that every child receives the proper vaccinations and that every pregnant woman has a monthly check-up, blood tests, and so on.
The doctor can prescribe medicine which, in theory, can be purchased for practically nothing at state-owned pharmacies - the only pharmacies that exist. And if a patient needs more complex care, he or she is referred to a specialist at a public hospital or clinic.
During the period when the Cuban government received generous subsidies from the former Soviet Union, the system more or less worked well. Hospitals were clean and, although they did not have state-of-the-art equipment, people could rely on them.
But after the subsidies ended and Cuba's economy went into a tailspin, nothing was the same again.
Decline
By the time I moved to Cuba in 1997, there were serious shortages of medicine - from simple aspirin to more badly needed drugs.
Ironically, many medicines that cannot be found at a pharmacy are easily bought on the black market. Some doctors, nurses and cleaning staff smuggle the medicine out of the hospitals in a bid to make extra cash.
Although medical attention remains free, many patients did and still do bring their doctors food, money or other gifts to get to the front of the queue or to guarantee an appointment for an X-ray, blood test or operation.
If you do not have a contact or money to pay under the table, the waiting time for all but emergency procedures can be ridiculously long.
Many Cubans complain that top-level government and Communist Party officials have access to VIP health treatment, while ordinary people must queue from dawn for a routine test, with no guarantee that the allotted numbers will not run out before it is their turn.
And while the preventative healthcare system works well for children, women over the age of 40 are being shortchanged because yearly mammograms are not offered to the population at large.
I saw many hospitals where there was often no running water, the toilets did not flush, and the risk of infections - by the hospital's own admission - was extremely high.
Healthcare for hard currency
In all fairness, in the past five years, the government has made great efforts to improve hospitals and health centres, but again, lack of resources is making the process painfully slow.
The system is free, but it is neither fast nor efficient for two important reasons. One is obviously the lack of financial resources, and the other - which is related to the first - is the "export" of doctors, nurses and dentists in exchange for hard currency.
Thousands of Cuban doctors go to Venezuela to provide primary healthcare there. Their tour of duty lasts a minimum of two years and they are paid approximately $50 a month, plus expenses. In exchange, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, sends Cuba petrol, part of which can be sold for hard currency.
When a friend of mine was unable to be operated on as scheduled, because there was no anesthesiologist available, "they are all in Venezuela" was a complaint I regularly heard.
Another way the country is attempting to obtain hard currency is to offer health services to foreigners - something that has been dubbed "health tourism". But some question whether visitors really get what they pay for.
Falling behind
From my experience, there are specialties in which Cuba excels, such as the rehabilitation of patients who have had strokes or are suffering from neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. Patients who go to CIREN (the Centre for Neurological Regeneration) receive personalised care from well-trained therapists.
But the surgery offered to Parkinson’s sufferers is no longer state-of-the-art by any means.
Cuban specialists complain that they do not have the same opportunities to travel, to attend conferences and to read journals on the latest medical advances as their peers in other countries. They feel, probably correctly, that they are falling behind.
Over the years, I have heard many complain about the deteriorating quality of the services offered. One of the problems is that no small number of Cuban doctors have left the country looking for better opportunities abroad. They are considered deserters.
But for all its shortcomings, Cubans do have better access to healthcare than the majority of those living in many "developing nations", where public health is shockingly inadequate.
And as with so many things in Cuba, the state health service offers some amazing paradoxes: you may have problems obtaining medicine, but getting a bust lift, or even a sex change, is no problem, and moreover, it is free of charge."
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/201265115527622647.html
So there you have it... forget about getting regular medical care, but go the bust lift or sex change and get it for free... wonder if I can get a free tummy tuck ... LOL
Can you imagine a doctor making only $30-$50/mo?
"If there is one thing for which Cuba has received praise over the years, it is the Communist government's state-run healthcare system.
Much of this praise is well-deserved. Despite its scarce resources, Cuba has one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates - just slightly lower than that of the US. Life expectancy is 77.5 years, one of the world's highest. And until not so long ago, there was one doctor for every 170 citizens - the highest patient-per-doctor ratio in the world.
Of course, the government can afford so many doctors because they are paid extremely low salaries by international standards. The average is between $30 and $50 per month.
And the benefits of this healthcare have not only been felt by Cubans.
Under Fidel Castro, the former Cuban president, hundreds of child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, left without proper medical attention after the collapse of the Soviet Union, were invited to Cuba. A hospital was constructed to treat them while they and their families set up temporary residence in Tarara, a beautiful seaside neighbourhood near Havana. Many remain there today.
Prevention before cure
" Many medicines that cannot be found at a pharmacy are easily bought on the black market. Some doctors, nurses and cleaning staff smuggle the medicine out of the hospitals in a bid to make extra cash. "
The Cuban system works - or is supposed to work - by emphasising primary and preventative healthcare.
For any country, but particularly for a poor nation such as Cuba, it is much easier and less expensive to prevent than to cure.
Every square block is assigned a family doctor, or general practitioner, who lives in a small, two-storey house in the neighbourhood. The bottom floor is used to receive patients and the top floor becomes the doctor's living quarters.
He or she ensures that every child receives the proper vaccinations and that every pregnant woman has a monthly check-up, blood tests, and so on.
The doctor can prescribe medicine which, in theory, can be purchased for practically nothing at state-owned pharmacies - the only pharmacies that exist. And if a patient needs more complex care, he or she is referred to a specialist at a public hospital or clinic.
During the period when the Cuban government received generous subsidies from the former Soviet Union, the system more or less worked well. Hospitals were clean and, although they did not have state-of-the-art equipment, people could rely on them.
But after the subsidies ended and Cuba's economy went into a tailspin, nothing was the same again.
Decline
By the time I moved to Cuba in 1997, there were serious shortages of medicine - from simple aspirin to more badly needed drugs.
Ironically, many medicines that cannot be found at a pharmacy are easily bought on the black market. Some doctors, nurses and cleaning staff smuggle the medicine out of the hospitals in a bid to make extra cash.
Although medical attention remains free, many patients did and still do bring their doctors food, money or other gifts to get to the front of the queue or to guarantee an appointment for an X-ray, blood test or operation.
If you do not have a contact or money to pay under the table, the waiting time for all but emergency procedures can be ridiculously long.
Many Cubans complain that top-level government and Communist Party officials have access to VIP health treatment, while ordinary people must queue from dawn for a routine test, with no guarantee that the allotted numbers will not run out before it is their turn.
And while the preventative healthcare system works well for children, women over the age of 40 are being shortchanged because yearly mammograms are not offered to the population at large.
I saw many hospitals where there was often no running water, the toilets did not flush, and the risk of infections - by the hospital's own admission - was extremely high.
Healthcare for hard currency
In all fairness, in the past five years, the government has made great efforts to improve hospitals and health centres, but again, lack of resources is making the process painfully slow.
The system is free, but it is neither fast nor efficient for two important reasons. One is obviously the lack of financial resources, and the other - which is related to the first - is the "export" of doctors, nurses and dentists in exchange for hard currency.
Thousands of Cuban doctors go to Venezuela to provide primary healthcare there. Their tour of duty lasts a minimum of two years and they are paid approximately $50 a month, plus expenses. In exchange, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, sends Cuba petrol, part of which can be sold for hard currency.
When a friend of mine was unable to be operated on as scheduled, because there was no anesthesiologist available, "they are all in Venezuela" was a complaint I regularly heard.
Another way the country is attempting to obtain hard currency is to offer health services to foreigners - something that has been dubbed "health tourism". But some question whether visitors really get what they pay for.
Falling behind
From my experience, there are specialties in which Cuba excels, such as the rehabilitation of patients who have had strokes or are suffering from neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. Patients who go to CIREN (the Centre for Neurological Regeneration) receive personalised care from well-trained therapists.
But the surgery offered to Parkinson’s sufferers is no longer state-of-the-art by any means.
Cuban specialists complain that they do not have the same opportunities to travel, to attend conferences and to read journals on the latest medical advances as their peers in other countries. They feel, probably correctly, that they are falling behind.
Over the years, I have heard many complain about the deteriorating quality of the services offered. One of the problems is that no small number of Cuban doctors have left the country looking for better opportunities abroad. They are considered deserters.
But for all its shortcomings, Cubans do have better access to healthcare than the majority of those living in many "developing nations", where public health is shockingly inadequate.
And as with so many things in Cuba, the state health service offers some amazing paradoxes: you may have problems obtaining medicine, but getting a bust lift, or even a sex change, is no problem, and moreover, it is free of charge."
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/06/201265115527622647.html
So there you have it... forget about getting regular medical care, but go the bust lift or sex change and get it for free... wonder if I can get a free tummy tuck ... LOL
Can you imagine a doctor making only $30-$50/mo?
Yes the good life, free healthcare, no homeless and an average monthly income of $17.00
Yes, I heard this on the radio. I also heard that Cubans have full health care and there are no homeless people there, this was from a woman who has a friend who married a Cuban and is living there. Maybe the Cubans can teach us something ?
Continued....
"Mr. Obama is gambling that restoring ties with Cuba may no longer be politically unthinkable with the generational shift among Cuban-Americans, where many younger children of exiles are open to change. Nearly six in 10 Americans support re-establishing relations with Cuba, according to a New York Times poll conducted in October. Mr. Obama’s move had the support of the Catholic Church, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Human Rights Watch and major agricultural interests.
At a news conference in Washington, Mr. Gross said he supported Mr. Obama’s move toward normalizing relations with Cuba, adding that his own ordeal and the injustice with which Cuban people had been treated were “a consequence of two governments’ mutually belligerent policies.”
“Five and a half decades of history show us that such belligerence inhibits better judgment,” he said. “Two wrongs never make a right. This is a game-changer, which I fully support.”
But leading Republicans, including Speaker John A. Boehner and the incoming Senate majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, did not. In addition to Mr. Rubio, two other Republican potential candidates for president joined in the criticism. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called it a “very, very bad deal,” while former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said it “undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba.”
A leading Democrat agreed. “It is a fallacy that Cuba will reform just because the American president believes that if he extends his hand in peace, that the Castro brothers suddenly will unclench their fists,” said Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a Cuban-American.
While the United States has no embassy in Havana, there is a bare-bones facility called an interests section that can be upgraded, currently led by a diplomat, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who will become the chargé d’affaires pending the nomination and confirmation of an ambassador.
Mr. Obama has instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to begin the process of removing Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, and the president announced that he would attend a regional Summit of the Americas next spring that Mr. Castro is also to attend. Mr. Obama will send an assistant secretary of state to Havana next month to talk about migration, and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker may lead a commercial mission."
"Mr. Obama is gambling that restoring ties with Cuba may no longer be politically unthinkable with the generational shift among Cuban-Americans, where many younger children of exiles are open to change. Nearly six in 10 Americans support re-establishing relations with Cuba, according to a New York Times poll conducted in October. Mr. Obama’s move had the support of the Catholic Church, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Human Rights Watch and major agricultural interests.
At a news conference in Washington, Mr. Gross said he supported Mr. Obama’s move toward normalizing relations with Cuba, adding that his own ordeal and the injustice with which Cuban people had been treated were “a consequence of two governments’ mutually belligerent policies.”
“Five and a half decades of history show us that such belligerence inhibits better judgment,” he said. “Two wrongs never make a right. This is a game-changer, which I fully support.”
But leading Republicans, including Speaker John A. Boehner and the incoming Senate majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, did not. In addition to Mr. Rubio, two other Republican potential candidates for president joined in the criticism. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called it a “very, very bad deal,” while former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said it “undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba.”
A leading Democrat agreed. “It is a fallacy that Cuba will reform just because the American president believes that if he extends his hand in peace, that the Castro brothers suddenly will unclench their fists,” said Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a Cuban-American.
While the United States has no embassy in Havana, there is a bare-bones facility called an interests section that can be upgraded, currently led by a diplomat, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who will become the chargé d’affaires pending the nomination and confirmation of an ambassador.
Mr. Obama has instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to begin the process of removing Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, and the president announced that he would attend a regional Summit of the Americas next spring that Mr. Castro is also to attend. Mr. Obama will send an assistant secretary of state to Havana next month to talk about migration, and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker may lead a commercial mission."
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