In the Guardian's Letters page this morning we had this cracker from the International Institute for the Study of Cuba at London Metropolitan University, all about, unsurprisingly, Cuba and that old chestnut healthcare. The letter closes by saying,
"Whatever the deficiencies and criticisms of the Cuban political system may be, we can no longer avoid acknowledging their impressive record in achieving so much [in healthcare] with so little - and possibly learning something in the process."Imagine if you will the sort of outrage if someone wrote a letter about the dreadful state of British trains and closed by saying,
"Whatever the deficiencies and criticisms of the Nazi's political system may be, we can no longer avoid acknowledging their impressive record in achieving so much with their economy and railways - and possibly learning something in the process."Or what about if they wrote in and said,
"Whatever the deficiencies and criticisms of the Rwandan political system may be, we can no longer avoid acknowledging their impressive record in achieving so much in controlling their growing population in line with their limited resources - and possibly learning something in the process."Ever since I can remember I have never understood, and I think I never will, the manner in which some people look at Cuba and say "oh but they have wonderful healthcare", or "oh but I've been there and it's lovely".
Of course it's bloody lovely, do you think a Caribbean island, heavily dependent on Western tourism is going to let you visit the shanty towns so you can walk around with your international copy of the Guardian and say "oh my isn't it so gritty and raw"?
22 comments:
Absolutely spot on! I can't think of many worse countries to spend your money in (North Korea perhaps?). My wife loves the place but the last time she went was her first visit to the "real" Cuba (she went to Havana rather than one of the tourist places). It was a very different experience seeing the ration shops and the deprivation. She also commented on the number of police on the streets. Whilst it made her feel safe I'm fairly sure it does the opposite to the natives.
http://therealcuba.com/Page10.htm
I live in Mexico and know quite a few people who've been to Cuba and they all say, independently, that the food is bloody awful and the service is worse. Sometimes the waiter forgets to bring your second course. You have to go and look for him. Also, many apartment buildings in Havana have no facades. The facades rotted and fell down over the years so it's like walking past giant dolls' houses and you can see inside all the rooms.
What is worrying is that this letter was signed by people who should know better but are so biased not to.
Having been to Havana several times when I was living in the Cayman Islands I can confirm the descriptions above to be accurate. However, the place is fascinating, a complete dump, but fascinating! I would strongly recommend anyone to visit.
If Red Ken loves the place, what more of a recommendation do you want? However, I did catch an interview of his on his last trip and recognised the Hotel he was staying at: Hotel Nacional de Cuba (Web Site). I’ve stayed their too. It’s the best hotel on the island. Well, you don’t expect him to slum it with the common people do you? The hotel claims to be five star, but I’d say that was ambitious.
Do you think that the deficiencies and deprivations of Cuba are totally unconnected with 40+ years of the most draconian sanctions and relentless covert operations by that model of civilised living the good ol' US of A then? A country where health care for the poor is non-existent; that has the largest per-capita prison population - by a wide margin - of any country on the planet; Whose military accounts for well over 50% of the entire world's military expenditure and which no longer seems to have any qualms about using that military against any country that declines to see things the US way.
Your smug confidence (or should that be 'opinionated arrogance?) in the moral superiority of western political systems is touching for a citizen of a country that, having lost an empire, now seems intent on participating in the enforcement branch of another. You should try reading a few Cuban or Iraqi blogs and media sources other than those whose entire raison d'etre is to reinforce the Western Sheeple's illusions about their superior noble purposes in the world. It may help to temper that arrogance with a wee bit of humility for a change.
Oh - and horror of horrors - "The waiter sometimes forgets to bring your second course!!!" you know - wow. Those bloody natives clearly have ideas above their station eh?
Oh yes, I forgot, it's all imperialist America's fault, and Castro is not a dictator of a communist regime that imprisoned political opponents and oppressed it's populous. Unlike those evil imperialists American who have free elections. The Soviet Union was misunderstood too.
Sabretache sneers, quoting me: ""The waiter sometimes forgets to bring your second course!!!" you know - wow. Those bloody natives clearly have ideas above their station eh?"
Yes. I guess my friends just didn't appreciate the free-spirited Cubans who can't even be motivated to do their jobs, even for a tip. Life is so much fun in carefree, rum-drinking, guitar strumming, happy go lucky Cuba where there is such full employment, no one stays in one job long enough to finish serving one meal. The job-hopping is just chronic!
Personally, I have confidence in dictator-free Western democracy. America's gearing up for an election. Had you noticed? When was the last time that Cuba had an election? Was it within living memory?
Sabretache, sweetie, do stick to what you know something about. When you were last in the US - if ever - were the streets littered with people having heart attacks and other people just stepping over them? Did people have car accidents and bleed to death in the road? Did you see people with awful cancers staggering around, clinging to the walls or children dying?
Your statement that health care for the poor is non-existent is so ignorant it's off the meter.
In a medical emergency, you get taken to the nearest hospital by ambulance and that hospital is required BY LAW to stabilise you and not make any enquiries about your ability to pay until you are stable again.
If you happened to have been taken to a private hospital (the ambulance is required to take you to the closest hospital, public or private), once you are stabilised, however long it takes, they can legally inquire about your ability to pay. If you do not have the ability, you will be transferred to what's called a county hospital. Every county in the US has one, funded largely by tax. These are not as bad as Cuba and are somewhere around the same quality as the British NHS. There, you will get the treatment you require.
Personally, it warmed the cockles of my heart to read that the US has the largest per capita prison population in the world. I just wish it were Britain.
Oh, BTW, regarding your final comment, commenting on what my friends have told me regarding Cuban waiters,"Those bloody natives clearly have ideas above their station eh?"
I don't know that I've ever heard a Mexican refer to a fellow Latino as a "bloody native".
Dizzy
You are a naive young man. The world is a rather more complex place than your simple black and white categorizations allow.
Cuba imprisons political opponents and America doesn't eh? Are you serious??
According to Kings College 'World Prison Population List' The US imprisons 714 people per 100,000 population; Cuba (with all its 'political prisoners'?), just 487.
The US leads in judicial executions too - not to mention indefinite imprisonment without trial (but with plenty of gross mistreatment - not-to-say torture) for anyone it suspects of being an 'enemy combatant' in it's phony war on an abstraction - the definition of which is entirely arbitrary and strictly extra-judicial.
And 'free elections' - oh dear oh dear.
Your simple-minded accusations would be funny if they weren't so damned pathetic
That's all very interesting, now run along and read some more Noam Chomsky, I'd love to have you hang around for a chat but I have an Illuminati meeting to go. We're planning to further the great Zionist plot by arranging another 9/11 you see.
Oh, yes, and that wasn't me being arrogant that time, I was condescending you instead whilst taking the piss too.
Dizzy - Oh! Was the Illuminati deal tonight? Oh, no! - I've got a conflict! The Jews and Masons who run the world are having a do at a secret location in Berlin - not that I was going; Mogen-David wine! Ugh!
But the Bilderberg Group is plotting the new world order off King's Road,Chelsea. Oh, gosh. Maybe I'll drop in on the Bildenbergers for a quick Champers and some nibs and then come on to the Illuminati deal later. Hasta luego!
"sabretache"... True, the USA may have quite a few things that leave something to be desired, but it's a fuck-sight better than that communist shit-hole that you and "Red Ken" seem so keen on!
Sabretache - I'm afraid you, not Dizzy, are the naive one, led by the nose by the one-worlders.
No. The US does not imprison political opponents. (Cuba does.)
Yes,it does imprison people, after due process, found guilty of planning damage to US citizens and property and destabilisation of the US. These arrests are called: Self Defence.
Learning how to take off and fly planes but not bothering to learn how to land them is ... oh, I dunno ... maybe a bit of a worry.
Shaving off all their body hair before a flight is also a bit of a worry. As in, screaming bonkers.
The prisoners, who had no allegiance to any state (just islam), and wore the uniform of no state's military and therefore could not be accorded the status of Prisoners of War (also, no declared war), are terrorists and must be contained, Sabretache! Your naiveté is alarming. So little exposure to the world outside Britain he thinks Americans without private health insurance don't get treated! An off-centre, myopic, little world view.
By the way, guess what your poor downtrodden wrongly accused islamic prisoners do the minute they're released, Sabretache! That's right! Apply for Green Cards! - not flee to Torah Borah for more grass soup.
Speaking of soup, when they get released, they are no longer the aesthetic, soulful islamics they were when captured. They've packed on a few pounds - that's a polite way of saying they've porked up, yes! - developed a taste for Tex-Mex,fries, burgers, Kentucky Fried Chicken ... and are anxious to sign up to the land of the free. Not even Paula Abdul played at the max decibels for 12 hours at a stretch puts them off wanting to become Americans.
Islamabad - Santa Fe. Peshawar - Pittsburgh. Lahore - LA. Hmmmmmm.... Tough choice!
sabretache: I've heard that man-made global warming is an AMerican plot to drown Cuba.
"Sabretache
Gender: Male
Occupation: Trader
About Me
An Englishman - with a burning contempt for the 'politically-correct', petty-minded, do-gooding, 'nanny knows best' Political Zeitgeist - the mindset that seeks to interfere, regulate, circumscribe and BAN, whilst mouthing the mantras of 'Justice', 'Freedom' and 'Tolerance'."
Hang-on, that doesn't accord with your blog and comments. Maybe you've hijacked that blogger id.
I spent a night in Mexican prison back in the 1960's, as a boisterous young merchant seaman who, along with friends, had disputed a restaurant bill in Coatzacoalcos - gave me some insight into the Mexican/Gringo thing you know. So, you take care now Verity. The mass of the Mexican population has ample reason to be contemptuous of Gringos (and gringas). They are not fools either. With the trends in grain prices (dictated largely by uncle Sam's drive for ethanol production to keep their happy motoring lifestyle on track) hitting the price of their food staple hard; and with their oil production already well out from the cliff edge and gravity about to assert itself (per wylie E Coyote); they're going to be looking for someone to blame. Seems to me that a haughty, patronising right-wing US-loving gringa might need to watch her back big-time. Could get ugly.
Me:
"Do you think that the deficiencies and deprivations of Cuba are totally unconnected with 40+ years of the most draconian sanctions and relentless covert operations by that model of civilised living the good ol' US of A then?"
(Actually it was a rhetorical question)
Dizzy:
"Oh yes, I forgot, it's all imperialist America's fault...."
I'll take that as a confirmed 'Yes' then. The two are totally unconnected in your opinion.
Oh and BTW, since when was 'condescending' a verb?
Not very good with sarcasm are you. But then again, reading your 9/11 stuff it doesn't surprise me.
Sabretache - don't have the sheer silliness to lecture me on living in Mexico. You were stupid enough to dispute a restaurant bill in Mexico in THE SIXTIES? Hmmmm ... why do I get the feeling that the manager was motivated to call the police because you were legless and aggressive and called the owners of the country by a variety of names? Sorry to hear they let you out.
Yes, everyone who lives here is well aware that the Mexicans are "not fools,either". They run a big, successful, beautiful country with elegant, 500-year old colonial cities, that is at peace with all its neighbours.
"The mass of the Mexican population has ample reason to be contemptuous of Gringos (and gringas)". Wrong. The mass of the population spends 24 hours a day not thinking about the United States at all. They're too busy. Those who do are aware of the benefits brought to them by NAFTA. President Calderone, who is a brain box with two MBAs - one of them from Harvard - is a conservative motivated by capitalism, as was his predessor. Most (not all) of the specialists in the big, highly regarded medical centres were trained in their specialty in the US and they're all fluent in English. Go to any supermarket or large store and count the sleek, late model American and Japanese cars jamming the parking lot. Gosh, I just don't get a feeling of hatred - or interest, even. Kindly suggestion: Stop living in the past. Throw out your 'Viva Zapata' video.
Incidentally, I'm not a gringa as that is a term - a not unfriendly term, by the way; just an identifier - they use for Americans. How else to describe an American? "American"? No. Mexicans are also Americans. Norte Americano? No. Mexicans are also Norte Americanos. De Los Estados Unidos? Yes, but wordy. So they say gringo and everyone understands that means someone from north of the border - American or Canadian.
Your trite, irrelevant experiences of 45 years ago are boring.
Well, you're dangerously misinformed about the United States and ignorant about Mexico. Want to release a stream of misinformation about Canada and go for a hat trick?
Correct me if 'm wrong here, but only the US has an ban on trade with Cuba?
Although Canada, Mexico and the EU are not as rich as the US, they are still worthwhile trading partners and sources of tourists.
I've spent some time in Mexico and cannot disagree with verity. Have you been to the delightful Democratic People's Republic of Korea?
Good point,Flashgordonnz. I don't believe Oz, NZ or the richer countries of SE Asia have a ban on trade with Cuba, either. Does China? That is quite a big country if rumours are true.
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