Brazilians Suffer the Consequences of their Mistaken Vote
Elio Delgado Legon
HAVANA TIMES – In Brazil’s recent elections, the people had the opportunity to choose between a well-known politician, who would follow in the political footsteps of Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, and another politician who has become well-known for his own statements, as a supporter of Brazil’s fascist dictatorship in the past and an enemy of the Black population, women, homosexuals, in short anyone belonging to Brazil’s poorer classes.
When it was time to vote, voters didn’t bear in mind all of the things that Lula and Dilma’s governments did for them, taking millions of people out of poverty, reducing unemployment to its lowest rate (4.9%), who managed to successfully implement the “Zero Hunger” program, and hire thousands of foreign doctors in a coordinated effort with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) so as to put the “Mais Medicos” program into action, which took healthcare to over 2,800 municipalities where it didn’t previously exist.
The Brazilians who didn’t keep this in mind, have voted for and chosen a racist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe and an admirer of the fascist dictatorship, who (even before officially taking the reins) has managed to jeopardise the “Mais Medicos” program with just a few shameful statements made to Cuban doctors and by changing the agreement signed by the Brazilian government, the Pan American Health Organization and Cuba’s Public Health Ministry, leading Cuba to decide that it won’t continue to form part of the program and will withdraw its over 8,500 doctors who were working in this country.
As always, enemies of the Cuban Revolution, who don’t lose any opportunity to defame it, twisting the truth about what really happened, have begun their lies saying that Cuba is withdrawing its doctors because the president-elect wanted to pay doctors 100% of their wages and not pay anything to the Cuban State, when the truth is that Bolsonaro is questioning Cuban doctors’ training and is demanding that they validate their diplomas if they want to work in Brazil, ignoring the terms agreed with the PAHO, and also saying that doctors who want to work there should be hired individually calling Cuban doctors “slaves” and Cuba’s female doctors “women in a white coat” without any idea of what their qualifications are.
It’s easy for anyone with common sense to see that Cuba can’t continue to take part in this program (created by Dilma Rousseff to place doctors in every part of the country), under these conditions.
Arthur Chioro, a doctor and professor of Sao Paulo’s School of Medicine, who was the country’s Health Minister during Dilma Rousseff’s first term in office, made his opinion about what is happening in this field in Brazil clear:
“It’s a real tragedy for the lives and health of 30 million Brazilians. The health system of the 2,885 municipalities that form part of the “Mais Medicos” program and depend on Cuban doctors is about to collapse, especially in 1,575 municipalities that solely depend on this program’s doctors.
“International humiliation is shaking up the country’s relationship with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and it will lead to a landscape of widespread mistrust in its relations with other countries, Brazil’s partners in countless other health projects.
“Basic medical attention is able to take care of 80% of the reasons why someone seeks out healthcare services. All of this will be lost and the people who need the Single Health System (SUS) the most will be the ones to pay for this, thanks to the president-elect’s absolute lack of training, who is incapable of measuring his words.
“Most Brazilian doctors don’t want to or don’t know how to provide general healthcare. They only trained to become specialists, in an elitist, restrictive model that isn’t committed to society. They aren’t worried about the 30 million Brazilians who will end up without access to a doctor.
“By throwing into question the skills and veracity of Cuban doctors’ training and by imposing changes to the way the Mais Médicos program (PMM) hires doctors and works, in a unilateral, authoritarian and inconsistent way, showing no respect for established negotiation routes and the sovereignty of a partner country, has led to the PMM and SUS collapse, and along with them, the hopes of millions of Brazilians have also come crashing down.
“Stupidity has won. Brazil has lost. I can only apologize to Cuban doctors and the Cuban people, as well as thank them for everything they did for our people.”
These are the opinions of an expert on the subject, who is concerned about the health of his people, and his words reveal exactly who the person is to blame for this grave situation today.
As yet again there is no ‘reply’ on Nick’s latest contribution, I apologize to Renato for using his.
My concern’s Nick both prior to and following my afternoon nap, are not about bygone tyrannies under historic dictators, but of the current tyrannies and the current dictators. The cold war Nick is past, but the messages it contained have relevance today. Freedom is a pearl beyond price, but is not free. The evident difference between us, is that I detest dictatorship of left or right, but you doggedly avoid condemning it because for the left extreme left to hold power it is necessary as demonstrated by communists being unable to achieve power without violence and subsequent dictatorship.
Karl Marx was a very remarkable man who produced some ground breaking works.
Whist acknowledging his place in the canon of philosophy, I could only ever claim to have the very lightest and vaguest of ‘adherence’ to his theories.
You seem stuck in a cold war era philosophy Mr MacD.
Whilst you take your afternoon nap and dream of challenging the evils of bygone ‘tyrannies’, a far right nationalistic aroma rises from coffee pots all over the world.
But it would very much seem that you are too lost in semi-slumbering, hazy, cold-war reminiscence to be able to smell it.
Great to see your comments, Carlyle! Don’t always agree but love your response.
Obviously Nick you regard my detestation of communism (even when posing as democratic socialism) as support for far right nationalism.
I have no regard for the current incumbent of the White House and I challenge you to find any similarity in anything I have written to his views.
Regarding blind spots, remember also Nick that in the Kingdom of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King.
As for my “ranting foolery” in saying that there are very many moderate thinking people who are opposed to communism and far-left socialism, preferring freedom, that Nick merely demonstrates your own intolerance for those of that kind.
You have yet to condemn dictatorship of left or right in these pages because of your blind adherence to Marxist preaching. I as you know, condemn both. But it is obvious that my including communist dictators makes it impossible for you to agree.
The fact that voters in several countries have rejected left-wing Marxist regimes does not reflect fascist views, but merely common sense and a wish to have freedom. But obviously it gets up your nose!
I’m afraid your latest comment is complete, ranting foolery.
It is widespread, common knowledge that far right nationalism is surging in various parts of the world.
Bizarrely you choose to deny this fact Mr MacD. Perhaps like the current incumbent of The White House, you think this is ‘fake news’………
I think this denial is a just a plain old blind spot and a failure to keep up with things. I certainly hope this is the case rather than it being due to any more sinister of motives.
As there isn’t the ‘reply’ on Nick’s comment, I am using yours Brad.
I fully understand Nick that anyone who is opposed to your extreme left wing views is in your opinion “far right”.
But Nick, there are very many moderate thinking people who are opposed to communism and far-left socialism and with due reason, especially if they have experienced it themselves, preferring freedom. So Nick it is time to abandon your latest round of yakking about “the far right” as is those who oppose communism and far left socialism as necessarily “fascists”.
Don’t bother pretending to be a moderate yourself. Those of us who read your contributions, take them as they are – invariably pro-extreme left wing.
Hey nick. I haven’t seen you commenting on the thousands of deaths kills by the leftist government in Venezuela and Nicaragua.. I would love to hear you take on that. Oh please and don’t forget to mention THE EMBARGO. Can’t wait!
We are indeed, experiencing a far right surge in various parts of the world.
It is clearly impossible to have a surge without supporters.
Your comment suggests you are amongst their number Brad ?
Except Brazil,Poland,US,Austria have real elections Nick.
Communist Cuba doesn’t it’s a 1 party tyranny.
Elio should read this article, in this same Havana Times
https://havanatimes.org/?p=144524
Brazil has no trouble replacing Cuban doctors.
Well Mr MacD…..
You do like to bark up the same old dead tree don’t you?
If you would actually take the trouble to read my comments you would see that I can be critical of both left and right. But unlike yourself, I would never opt for simplistic ‘good vs evil’ interpretations of a highly complex world.
Regarding dictatorial laws and actions……
I would disagree with all such laws and actions whether they are carried out by those who claim to be communist, capitalist or carrying out the will of God or whatever else.
What you completely fail to acknowledge is the current surge of far right nationalism occurring around the world which is a ugly hybrid of right-wing capitalism and fascism.
I am not going to bother putting out lame challenges to try and get you to condemn this surge.
Besides, how can a man condemn something whose existence he is in complete denial of.
I’m afraid it has to be said that viewpoints such as yours facilitate this ultra right wing surge and the rise to power of fascist-sympathising leaders such as Bolsonaro.
Brad, Elio is a mouthpiece for the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of Cuba. Yes, it does actually have that department which gets lots of funding. One only has to look at the slogans and cult of the personality pictures which cover the walls of Cuban schools, offices, placards and hoardings to know that that department is busy and Elio precisely follows their preaching.
The most extreme example of the departments activity I have seen was in the local office in our town of MININT (the Ministry of the Interior) where I counted 48 – yes, forty eight – pictures of Fidel Castro, one of which included disciple Hugo Chavez. Folks have to visit those offices for licenses, renewal of visas and the like.
I note without surprise Nick that you still won’t criticize communist dictatorship. My head is far from being buried in the sand for I openly condemn dictatorship by fascists or communists – the two despicable extremes. Unlike yourself, I don’t acquiesce to either. So quit being bashful and come out into the daylight with your opinion. Do you condemn dictatorship by either, both or neither?
Mr MacD………..
Yet again and for the umpteenth time you completely and utterly refuse to address the points that I am making.
The far right is on the march. There is a KKK supported extremist in the White House; the ultra right Polish Government are usurping due judicial process; Hungary is in the grip of an white supremacist, right wing regime; Brazil has ‘elected’ an individual who ridiculously believes in his own innate racial supremacy and in Austria (Hitler’s birthplace) a political party set up by a member of his Hitler’s beloved SS is currently in coalition government.
A ultra right wing, capitalist funded, online uber-putsch is occurring without any recourse to traditional and increasingly irrelevant national boundaries.
Their path is being be made all the smoother by Capitalists such as yourself who choose to bury their heads in the sand. All disturbingly reminiscent of the appeasement era of the 1930s………..
I’m no doom-monger Mr MacD………..
……..in fact I am a supreme optimist and hope that things don’t get much worse than the current state of affairs. I hope that the tide turns and believe that it will.
But if things do continue on their current, ugly trajectory and right wing capitalists once again usher in the darkest of dark, far-right extremist eras due again to their limitless individualistic greed, then feel free to give yourself a hearty pat on the back for your own tacit acquiescence Mr MacD…….
Elio Delgado Legon the communist dictatorship apologist is crying the blues again.
Your slave doctors will find another home not to worry Elio.
Your personal views and opinions Nick do not become facts as you appear to claim. Yes I favour capitalism which encourages the freedom of speech which you and I enjoy, rather than jailing so-called dissidents as practiced in communist Cuba and note with interest your adoption of the phrase “neo-liberalism” so beloved by the extreme left in South America, Dilma,Lulu et al.
I note that yet again, you fail to condemn dictatorship, whereas I have consistently opposed extreme politics of left or right. As you state that “there are a great many right wing capitalists who are only too happy to sup at the same table as fascists” perhaps you could name two or three and with which fascists they have supped?
It is somewhat obvious also that you regard those who are opposed to communism and its fellow travelers as “neo-liberals”, not as people who favour opportunity for development of the individual rather than being part of the proletarian mass.
You infer that favouring capitalism rather than totalitarianism as practiced by communism makes one sympathetic to fascism. nothing could be further from the truth. Again Nick, do you oppose dictatorship whether of left or right or do you accept it as practiced by communists?
Long may you continue to kick gently Mr MacD.
For your information, I can be critical of both right and left. I am of the opinion that there is no one single ideology which holds all the answers. Communist governments have variously provided effective solutions to certain specific problems, but I for one, would not regard such governments as being my favoured overall solution.
Likewise the currently dominant neo-liberalist ideology may include solutions to minority of problems, but the overwhelming body of evidence suggests that it is most certainly not a ‘cure-all.’
What neo-liberalism seems to have been a gateway to is the current trend in very right-wing to far right-wing nationalism. I would see this as a very dangerous development.
I understand that you are an avowed supporter of capitalism/conservatism Mr MacD ?
We have covered this ground previously but I do think that you are in some sort of denial. You blankly refuse to see the historic and current linkage and inter-feed between right wing capitalism and fascism.
Obviously there are many right wing capitalists who would not dream of having anything to do with fascism.
But historically and currently there are a great many right wing capitalists who are only too happy to sup at the same table as fascists or other far right extremists.
You seem to have a blind spot regarding these facts ?
Communists and socialists have been trying to describe those opposed to their views as Fascists since I can remember – and that Nick goes back to prior to the Second World War. As you have read my comments for a long time, you ought to recall that I always differenciate between Democratic Socialists and I have friends who are of that persuasion, and the Communists who like the current Cuban communist regime endeavour to deceive others by describing themselves as “socialist”. That is the obvious ploy in the re-hashed “new” Cuban constitution where they use that description for their activities.
I as you well know – and it appears unlike yourself, am opposed to dictatorship whether of right or left, you appear to oppose the first but support the second, for I have yet to observe you opposing it!
Yes, I am well, alive and kicking (if only gently).
Agreed.
Hi Mr MacD….
Hope you are keeping well.
I would describe myself as a pragmatist rather than a socialist.
You can decry socialism as much as you like but the historical evidence points to the fact that right wing capitalism and fascism have been dovetailing with each other for a good long while now.
The big problem facing the world currrently is the resurgence of the far right and the right wing capitalists who combine with the new far right.
No ifs, buts or maybees…..
So do all your fellow sympathisers of Left wing dictatorships come from one corner Nick? Just as many of different political persuasions were correctly opposed to National Socialism – remember that the leading critical voice in the British House of Commons was Conservative – others are today correctly opposed to dictatorship whether of the left or right. As for slimy capitalists, how about socialist morons? Such expressions are of no merit! You are correct about history repeating itself and just as the USSR rotted from within, let’s hope the same thing happens in Cuba its people are eventually liberated to enjoy the freedoms that they are denied by repression and which those in capitalist countries enjoy.
The new Brazilian President was elected by democratic vote. Of course you left wing types are screaming about the Lulu ghost candidate losing. But Dilma and Lulu can reflect upon the corruption that took place in the Brazilian oil industry when she was Chair of the national owned company and he was President.
Oh! I forgot, corrupt socialist politicians are acting upon behalf of “the people”, unlike the “slimy capitalists” acting in favour of the shareholders.
Remember also Stalin buddying up with Hitler before both by agreement invaded Poland in September 1939. The USSR eventually admitted to the massacre at Katyn but it took forty years. How slimy is that Nick?
It’s very interesting to see comments that are in favour of the new Brazilian regime.
It’s always interesting to note from which divergent corners these types of right wing, fascist sympathisers get their fulsome or tacit support.
In 1930s Germany there were those that were wholly opposed to the rise of the 3rd Reich. There were those who were fully in favour. And there were those slimy capitalists who thought that, given the choice, fascism was the best option.
The thing about history is that it has a habit of repeating itself.
What a bunch of crap this guy wrote.
Bolsonaro, also known as “Bolsomito” is by all means in favour of the traditional family but not against the homosexuals, black people and the minority.
He’s going to do a great job as long this shitty leftist media stops pooping with their hands (writing bad content)
As far as I know, in less than two days 3.000 Brazilian doctors already applied to fill the vacant positions. It seems soon all the 8.000 positions left by the Cubans will be filled. So it is not true poor Brazilians will stay without healthcare.
I wonder how Elio managed to refer to Lula and Dilma without reference to corruption. Maybe the Brazilian electorate do remember!
Like in the US with respect to Trump’s election, Bolsonaro’s electoral success is owed a populist backlash. In Brazil, despite the success of the progressive movement, the corruption that came along with it pushed Brazilians to abandon their common sense and vote for a change in the country’s direction. The racist fears that were provoked by successful election of the US first Black President generated a similar backlash from white Americans. We ended up with Trump. Brazilians with Bolsonaro.
Approximately 50% of the Brazilian population is black or mixed race. Somehow Brazil has managed to elect a far right fascist sympathiser who has previously stated that none of his own blood offspring would ever consider interbreeding with non-whites because they have been ‘too well brought up’.
There will undoubtedly be many negative up-shots to this unpleasant individual’s term/s in office.
This will undoubtedly include little or no healthcare for those on the lower rungs of Brazil’s bottom-heavy ladder.
Los brasileños ahora se darán cuenta que no hay altruismo ni solidaridad, ni humanismo que lo del gobierno cubano fue, es y será negocio, dólares, cálculo político, irrespeto y desprecio por las necesidades, condiciones y situación de los cubanos en este caso los médicos que están en Brasil. Hubo muchas alternativas antes de tomar la decisión de la dictadura de regresarlos como si fueran objetos impidiendo así que pudieran acomodar su situación como muchos han denunciado . Han mantenido un sesgo informativo bastante grosero y ya muy difícil de creer dado que la gente tiene más vias de saber la verdad, del expolio a que son sometidos los colaboradores y el chantaje que hacen . La decisión de sacar a los médicos fue fríamente y rápidamente ejecutada pues sabían que lo de Bolsonaro iba en serio y así evitar que los médicos tuvieran tiempo para salir de ” otra” manera de la situación. Los brasileños sabrán como resolver sus problemas porque Brasil es una democracia con instituciones que funcionan y sucederá como en EEUU que ni un Presidente ni un Partido Politico puede estar por encima de las leyes y la Constitución como si ocurre en Cuba donde ” aprobaran” una Constitución en la que un partido político elitista pretende estar por encima de la Constitución y donde el soberano no pinta ni da color , los brasileños tendrán en uin futuro elecciones libres y democráticas tendrán la opción que nosotros llevamos más de 60 años sin tener