Tales from a ‘failed State’ and the world’s richest State - EDITORIAL

On July 11 thousands of people took to the streets in cities throughout Cuba. They were demonstrating against food shortages, high prices, restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. 

The protests began in the towns of San Antonio de los Baños in the west of the island, and in the city of Palma Soriano in the east. In both cases protesters numbered in the hundreds. With millions of Cubans now with mobile internet on their phones, news of the protests quickly swept to Havana. By early afternoon, thousands marched through central Havana, chanting “homeland and life” and “freedom”. 

Since Covid-19 hit the island, the pandemic has gutted tourism revenue and its people have become accustomed to waiting in line for hours to buy basic goods like chicken and detergent. Pharmacy shelves are barren. 
Cubans are today living through the gravest economic crisis the country has known for 30 years. The US embargo on Cuba was first imposed in 1991 and further tightened by the Trump administration’s imposition of more than 200 new sanctions aiming at sabotaging the island’s economy, stirring discontent and bringing about regime change. In addition the US has frozen around US $253 million in Cuban assets in the course of 2012. 

In the face of economic sanctions and seizure of its foreign assets, the ‘Boprgan Project’ reported approximately 26 percent of Cuba’s population lives in poverty. 
The protests - the biggest since the 1994 protest demonstrations- brought on by the acute economic crisis in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, have been described as the biggest in 30 years. 

Answering questions on the Cuban protests during his joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was visiting Washington, US President Joe Biden called Cuba “a failed and repressive State...” 
Yet, the World Bank reported in 2020 Cuban life expectancy at birth was 79 years; life expectancy in Cuba is the same as life expectancy in the USA. The recent figures for infant mortality are similarly impressive (4 per 1,000 live births). The same as the UK and Canada and better than the American figure of 6 per 1,000. 

Under the Cuban healthcare system, accessibility to healthcare is a Fundamental Right of its citizens. It focuses on a preventative approach to medicine and offering the simplest check-up to the most complex surgery, free of charge. Dental care, medicines and even home visits from doctors are all covered by the system. 

Its doctor to patient ratio of one per 150, surpasses many developed nations 
Whereas from 2010 to 2016, the US physician-to-population ratio increased from 277 physicians per 100,000-population to 295 physicians per 100,000-population! 
Cuba’s infant mortality rate stands at 4.2 per thousand births, compared with a rate of 3.5 per thousand births in the UK in 2015. In 2020, infant mortality rate for United States of America was 5.69 deaths per thousand live births. 

Cuba also has a long history of medical diplomacy, reaching back to the 1960s when the country sent a team of medical workers to Algeria during its war of independence. Again during the 1960s when our own country was sanctioned by the US, Cuban doctors readily served in remote and difficult areas to help ease local doctor shortages. 

COVID-19 first arrived in Cuba in March 2020. By January 10, 2021, Cuba had a total of 14,576 cases and 151 cumulative deaths or 13 deaths per 1 million people. By this same date, the USA had reached 1,151 deaths per 1 million people (Worldometers, 2021). 

In the field of literacy, the World Atlas shows Cuba’s literacy rate at 99.75%, while its youth literacy rate stands at 99.89%. Whereas according to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy. 
Yes, the Cuban people are hungry, their store shelves are empty and their pharmacies are running out of medicines. But this is not because Cuba is a failed State. Rather it is caused by years-long crippling US sanctions and robbery of Cuban assets. 

However, despite its economy crippled by US blockades and sanctions, in the most important fields of human development, Cuba has put its giant neighbour to shame. 
Instead of hypocritical name-calling, the US leader would do well to take a leaf out of the Cuban book, seek to help nations in need rather than punish those who turn adversity into success.