Cuban Gov. says Pandemic is Worse under Capitalism
HAVANA TIMES – The coronavirus pandemic is having the worst effects in capitalist systems. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel made that claim at the virtual UN General Assembly on Tuesday, reported dpa.
“[The] multidimensional crisis unleashed shows the great mistake of the dehumanized policies imposed by the market dictatorship,” Diaz-Canel said.
The pandemic’s “devastating economic and social effects are lethal among the most vulnerable and those with lower incomes.”
The Cuban president called for a reform of the UN. He urged it to “resume the just struggle to write off the uncollectable foreign debt.” He added, “the social and economic effects of the pandemic, threaten the survival of the peoples of the south.”
Diaz-Canel said Cuba’s health system was prepared to cope with the pandemic. He also stressed the country’s efforts to contribute to the global fight against it.
“Cuba sent 3,700 workers distributed in 46 medical brigades to 39 countries and territories hit by Covid-19,” he said.
The Cuban president delivered a scathing attack on his government’s arch enemy, the United States. He called it “a markedly aggressive and morally corrupt regime that despises and attacks multilateralism.”
He also said Washington had “brutally tightened” its blockade against Cuba in the last two years.
The Caribbean island has so far confirmed 5,200 coronavirus infections and 117 deaths.
Medical care is free of charge in the country, which has 59 doctors for every 100,000 inhabitants. That figure, according to the World Health Organization, is the highest density of doctors in the world.
There is something almost pathetic, in Ken Theriault’s statement that the US is: “the wealthiest civilization ever” it reflects mental isolation from the real world. A few realities:
Firstly, the US is a country not a civilization.
Secondly, several countries have a higher living standard than the US.
Thirdly, several countries have a higher GDP than the US.
Fourthly, loss of life at birth is higher in the US than several other countries – including Cuba.
Fifthly, life expectation is higher in several other countries than the US – including Cuba.
Sixthly, the US is way way down on the UN list of quality of life.
The US does however expend a higher percentage of its GDP upon health care (17.2%) than any other country – scarcely a basis for claiming to be a “wealthy civilization.”
Ken appears to indicate that Cuba is dependent upon importation of drugs from the US – what about India – from which the US imports drugs.
It is statistically proven that, in the U.S., the virus has been felt by the poor and the racial minorities (the black population), more so than the middle class white population. Both deaths and active cases. To hide this fact does not add to the discussion, but weakens your argument.
The fact that the population in the US do not have universal health care provided in the wealthiest civilisation ever, is a testament to the indifference the U.S. government has towards its own people. (sound familiar) The wealthy are attended to in resort like settings, while the less fortunate take their chances with home cures. It is also a misstatement to declare easy access to medicines for the Cuban government. The US channels all shipments to Cuba through Havana, helping to maintain control over the flow of the ‘allowed’ goods, while making access to remote Cuba difficult.
nothing is free in Cuba. This government has been in power since the 1959 and they have been stealing from the people since then. To say they have a free health care system is not correct. the Cuban people have suffered persecution, they have lost the freedom to choose the leaders, 90% of the people are poor. This country does not even have soap and they have a free health care? sure they do but it is not up to standard to other countries. the next time you visit the nice beaches in Cuba, please also visit the hospitals, the schools, the universities, the towns and you will see the price of the health care in Cuba. The article talks about the doctors Cuba has sent abroad? did you know the that government is charging the governments money for their doctors and they only give about 20% to the Cuban doctors, 10% of the salary is only provided after they return. in other words, this is the new slavery. Think again you support this government the next time you are drinking a corona close to the beach
We must fight for our love & We must fight for our freedom!!!
Mark Stevens is correct in indicating that everybody in Cuba has access to medical care, He is incorrect in saying that all medicines are available. There is a chronic shortage! Cuba’s good doctors know those drugs and medicines that they would like to prescribe, but are frustrated by being unable to obtain them.
As for the hospitals, there is a stark difference between the conditions of facilities like those of the Clinica Garcia (foreigners only) and those for Cubans which are as described by NomaN.
Free health care???
For starters there usually is some bribe / incentive to be paid to get seen that day or at least soon.
Then if you know what’s wrong there’s the question of getting the proper treatment or medicine.
One of my friends walked around for several months without fillings in his teeth – the orignal ones fell out and the dentist didn’t have some of the materials to replace them! He was very happy when I left him the painkillers I had with me.
Another friend’s daughter suffered some kidney problem and thus was in severe pain, only after I send some money she was able to buy pain relief medicine on the black market!
And have you ever looked inside a hospital for the Cubans themselves? As a Westener I was shocked at the beds, lack of hygiene and privacy, showers (no thanks I’ll go another day without being washed), etc.!
(And as Carlyle McDuff already mentioned: Ofcourse they pay for it, because the money the government spends on healthcare isn’t spend on salaries of other things)
As a US citizen with many friends in Cuba, I will tell you that the pandemic does not affect the poor disproportionately here. No one is denied first class medical care. There is no shortage of medicines. No shortage of food. No shortage of electricity, fuel, hardware, personal items. The air and water remain pure. There is no collapse of the sanitation and waste disposal systems.
Of course it is easy to claim that the virus can be controlled by the government, but at what cost to the citizens?
Cuba trades with over seventy – five countries, but still wants to blame the US embargo for it’s problems. Of course most do not realize that food and medicine have always been excluded from the embargo. Cuba only has to pay for those items upon delivery. (no credit).
Does Diaz Canel ever share with the Cuban people how many Cuban doctors defect from CUBA and choose to remain in the country that they are working in?
And maybe even marrying someone in that country to remain FREE? This is not written about very often. We love the Cuban doctors that have sought Freedom in the USA! They know the consequences in not being able to return to their homeland!
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, under the auspices of the Propaganda Ministry needs to change the channel in Cuba because the economic system under his government’s direction is in such a state of mismanagement, disrepair, unproductive, such that the propaganda Ministry will go to whatever lengthens to demonstrate to the outside world that Cuba as a totalitarian, communist state is far superior to the capitalist system.
First of all, the pandemic was unleashed not in a capitalist country but in a one dimensional communist country dictatorship which we call China, a strong ally of communist Cuba. Now, exactly how that pandemic was originally unleashed in China is debatable but for the sake of this discussion the Chinese explanation will suffice.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel claims “The pandemic’s “devastating economic and social effects are lethal among the most vulnerable and those with lower incomes.” Is he saying the pandemic is devastating and lethal for countries like Cuba or is he saying those poor people living in capitalist countries are suffering disproportionably because of the pandemic and that the most vulnerable in countries such as Cuba with its efficient and effective medical system is more superior?
If the latter is the case I must totally disagree. In Canada, a capitalist country the pandemic has not had devastating nor lethal economic and social effects on the most vulnerable in the population. In fact quiet the opposite. The Canadian government has provided plenty of economic resources and medical aid for the poor so that they can weather the pandemic with dignity and respect. The Canadian government as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the poor is considering introducing a universal basic income for all Canadians so that no one is left behind.
It is my understanding the European countries all within the definition of capitalist ideology have also gone out of their way to help their most vulnerable.
So, where is President Miguel Diaz-Canel obtaining his (dis) information? It seems the Cuban Ministry of Propaganda is supplying him with his U.N. talking points, or better still his marching orders, to which the delegates at the United Nations must be scratching their heads with his outlandish assertion. More often than not when a Cuban official takes the U. N. podium most Western delegates from capitalist countries file out for lunch which is more appetizing than having to listen to any false information dished out from a closed opinionated state President.
He also stated “the social and economic effects of the pandemic, threaten the survival of the peoples of the south.” I agree. Take a country like Nicaragua as one example, the pandemic is causing horrendous hardship on ordinary Nicaraguans. Why? The dictatorship – not a capitalist state – failed to recognize the significant impact of not following proper international health protocols like all other civilized capitalist countries. So, the result of not listening and obfuscating is exactly what Nicaragua is facing: the survival of its people. Pandering to dictators is not good in a global pandemic.
Rather than trying to pit capitalism versus socialism (communism, totalitarianism) in this persistent pandemic, how about recognizing that the entire world is in this together whatever the political ideology and the more each state, country, can help the other the better the global planet will be.
One can criticise Cuba’s President and it’s system until one is blue in the face but from an objective point of view the following assertions emanating from MDC look pretty much factually correct:
The coronavirus pandemic is having the worst effects in countries with capitalist systems.
The current U.S. regime is “a markedly aggressive and morally corrupt regime that despises and attacks multilateralism.”
Well it is good to know that Covid 19 has been of financial benefit to the Cuban economy, just think about the revenue gained from providing 3,700 “workers” – presumably doctors and nurses to other countries. One knows for example that Cuba charges Portugal $63,000 per annum per doctor. The increased revenue from sale of medical services ought to help to ameliorate the loss of tourism revenues. The claimed number of doctors per 100,000, includes all those thousands under contract overseas.
Although Diaz-Canel suggests that state operated medical services are “free”, that is not the case, the public purse pays for them, and the people pay for the public purse either through taxes or in Cuba by being paid a pittance enabling the state to retain earnings.
There is no doubt, that totalitarian political systems have the advantage of total control over the subjugated people as in Cuba, and that those countries accustomed to individual freedom are at a disadvantage as the populations are unaccustomed to being directed.
Obviously, Diaz-Canel as a puppet for Raul Castro born since the revolution, has no conception of freedom, whether it be of the media, of the individual or of movement. That on this sole occasion has proven to be advantageous.
As for writing off debt, that would certainly be advantageous to Cuba, but China to which Cuba owes over $25 billion, is unlikely to follow the example set by Russia, the Castro regime’s first sugar daddy which recognizing that it would never be paid, wrote off $5 billion of Cuban debt.
There is little room for Diaz-Canel to speak of “de-humanizing”, that is the very purpose of communism in striving to create a malleable “mass”.