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Related: About this forumA Cuban Brain Drain, Courtesy of the U.S.
A Cuban Brain Drain, Courtesy of the U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry and the American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, have praised the work of Cuban doctors dispatched to treat Ebola patients in West Africa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently sent an official to a regional meeting the Cuban government convened in Havana to coordinate efforts to fight the disease. In Africa, Cuban doctors are working in American-built facilities. The epidemic has had the unexpected effect of injecting common sense into an unnecessarily poisonous relationship.
And yet, Cuban doctors serving in West Africa today could easily abandon their posts, take a taxi to the nearest American Embassy and apply for a little-known immigration program that has allowed thousands of them to defect. Those who are accepted can be on American soil within weeks, on track to becoming United States citizens.
There is much to criticize about Washington’s failed policies toward Cuba and the embargo it has imposed on the island for decades. But the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, which in the last fiscal year enabled 1,278 Cubans to defect while on overseas assignments, a record number, is particularly hard to justify.
It is incongruous for the United States to value the contributions of Cuban doctors who are sent by their government to assist in international crises like the 2010 Haiti earthquake while working to subvert that government by making defection so easy.
More here --> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/opinion/a-cuban-brain-drain-courtesy-of-us.html
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Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)They could have, and should have been following them decades ago, and attempting to get closer to the truth before writing their articles.
Clearly one of the reasons the US establishment has been fighting normalization of relations with Cuba all these years is it has no way whatsoever to explain the true Cuba to the US population after lying about the country and its government since the Revolution.
Apparently those who started the whoppers never anticipated this problem to present itself, having reality hit them in the face, expecting every step of the way that the US would concoct some reason to invade and take over Cuba, and then its actual wellness could be explained as an accomplishment by the U.S.
Missing from the article is the fact that US plans for Cuba include ENDING their universal health and education programs, and getting back to the old privatization of these services, and reserving them for the wealthy, just as it was before the Revolution.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Your posts are stupid.
Mika
(17,751 posts)That makes your posts stupid.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)Shows you "think" must have totally different meaning in conservatese!
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Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)For eliminating cuban healthcare. You made the claim.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)and replace it with one of his choosing. The report has just been issued. It will be a shock to anyone who has been aware of Cuba's superior health system and education system. You have to wonder what the hell this man believes he is doing. His butting into Cuba will NOT be welcomed:
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A. Overview
Cuba’s transition from the Castro regime to a democratic society with a free economy will be a challenging process. Meeting the basic human needs of the Cuban population involves the removal of the manifestations of Castro’s communism; the introduction of the values and practices of democracy and free enterprise; and the building of institutions and services that will improve the health, nutrition, education, housing, and social services available to the Cuban people.
The fundamental goal of any assistance to a free Cuba must be to empower the Cuban people to enable them to create an authentic democracy and free market economy. Empowering the Cuban people will mean improving their economic and social well-being, ensuring that adequate health and social services are provided, reconstructing a democratic civic culture through education and institution-building, dealing with the human cost of the totalitarian police state, and supporting the Cuban people as they cope with these issues and work to transform themselves.
Improving their condition will require dramatic reforms to ensure that democratic values and a civic culture return, that important democratic institutions — including private and faith-based organizations — are able to flourish, and that helping agents such as schools, clinics, and community centers respond to real needs and are accountable to the citizenry.
Some of the effort to meet basic human needs will involve immediate, short-term assistance to ensure that critical health, nutrition, and social services are addressed; that schools are kept open and provided with needed instructional materials; that housing emergencies are attended to; that comprehensive needs assessments and data collection are begun; and that food aid is distributed as needed.
Over the medium- and long-term, a variety of programs and services are identified that U.S. public and private sources can provide to the Cuban people, as a new Cuban government initiates the process of fundamental reform, establishing a rule of law, safeguarding human rights, and creating a new climate of opportunity. It is expected that such assistance will be available not only from U.S. Government agencies and contractors, but also from other international donors, international organizations and institutions, philanthropic foundations, non-profit expert organizations, and businesses interested in investing in Cuba’s future. Cuban-American and other U.S. citizens and organizations would be involved in these efforts.
Both short- and long-term issues will involve the work of many players and will need to be coordinated. The Cuban people are educated and, despite the repression of the Castro regime, have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient, savvy, and entrepreneurial. They will need the resources (including short- and long-term loans), technical assistance, and general support to enable them to improve health standards, manage the change to a market economy, and maintain and improve their infrastructure and services.
B. Seven Foundations for Action in Cuba’s Transformation
There are seven overarching principles that are so fundamental to a successful transition that they cut across all other actions and issues. They are:
1. All that is done must have the goal of empowering the Cuban people. Cuba must be free and sovereign, and the pride its people have in their culture, history and hopes for the future must be affirmed. Assistance proposed herein is illustrative. It will be up to the Cuban people through an open, democratic process to decide what assistance Cuba may seek from international sources.
2. The international community, especially organizations in the Western Hemisphere, can play a leading role in assisting the transition process. The U.S. Government can work through the Organization of American States and regional agencies, and with the United Nations and its agencies, and other organizations and individual countries.
3. Churches and other religious bodies have an important role in building a free Cuba.
4. The Cuban diaspora will want to take a role in helping the homeland. It might be useful to establish an umbrella organization to help coordinate diaspora assistance, such as a “Foundation for Assistance to a Free Cuba.”
5. U.S. and other assistance to Cuba should be coordinated to ensure it is managed effectively and provides help where it is needed most. The U.S. Government might consider creating a planning and coordination team before Castro’s regime falls, and, as appropriate, involve public and private sector donors including foundations, non-profit organizations, and corporations.
6. The United States and others should be prepared to help Cuba depoliticize its institutions and promote justice and reconciliation. The U.S. Government can assist Cuban efforts to eliminate profoundly politicized Castro-era textbooks, other instructional materials and media resources, as well as support the Free Libraries of Cuba network to enhance the physical presence of diverse materials and circulation of free ideas. Cubans may want to establish a justice and reconciliation process to address Castro’s crimes, identify regime victims, and assist the social healing process; they may request outside help.
7. The United States and the international community should enable the Cuban people to develop a democratic and civic culture, a free economy, and the values and habits essential to both. The U.S. Government could create the “Cuba Civil Society Education Project” to help provide the resources, training, and materials for education in democracy, civic values, and entrepreneurship at all levels. Radio and Television Martí can continue to provide transition information, support and information to civil society, and training opportunities for free Cuba’s journalists.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/32322.pdf
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Bush administration sees democracy in island's future
Post-Castro Cuba
Posted: Sunday, October 02, 2005
By George Gedda
Associated Press
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The appointment of a "transition coordinator" for Cuba arose in a 2004 report to President Bush by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, led by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The report spells out steps to bring pressure on Castro and provide assistance if and when a democratically inclined leadership takes power.
Bush said upon the report's release: "We believe the people of Cuba should be free from tyranny. We believe the future of Cuba is a future of freedom."
The prospect of political transitions in other countries usually does not merit much attention. Cuba, however, is a special case.
A friendly government in Havana would mean an end to a security headache for Washington that has lasted 46 years.
According to the report last year, not long after Castro's demise, 100,000 tons of food could be purchased quickly and shipped to Cuba.
U.S. charities would be encouraged to create and contribute to a foundation to aid a "Free Cuba." American government officials would carry out a "hands-on needs assessment" as soon as possible. [span style="background-color:yellow"] There are detailed plans for upgrading Cuba's health and education system. [/span]
The 400-plus page report discusses ways to modernize Cuba's aviation, railroad and maritime infrastructure. It envisions U.S. assistance in holding free and fair elections, fighting corruption and establishing independent trade unions.
Wayne Smith, an expert on Cuba and former U.S. diplomat who long has advocated establishing normal U.S. relations with island, said he is outraged by the administration's plan. It's "blatant intervention in the internal affairs of another state," Smith said.
The president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, likens the U.S. plan to an annexation or occupation of Cuba. He says the United States would regard Cuba "as a piece of land administered by the U.S."
"The whole strategy," Alarcon said in reference to the report, "is getting in forever."
More:
http://onlineathens.com/stories/100205/new_20051002063.shtml
bemildred
(90,061 posts)If you normalize relations, you leave yourself open to questions about why Cuba was being punished in the first place, since clearly only a moron could think they present an actual military or other threat to the USA.
Mika
(17,751 posts)Raul Castro, as head of the Cuban military, was the designer of Cuba's demilitarization.
Cuba has no offensive military. Only a small defensive infrastructure.
Cuba's military is now the preeminent disaster relief agency.
Their work, in concert with Cuba's medical brigades, is lauded worldwide, including by the US recently - regarding Cuba's response to Ebola in Africa.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Hate makes you stupid.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)the world-famous Cuban educational system, and the amazingly thorough universal medical system.
We've been reading about the Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami for ages, the same place the US has dumped truckloads of US taxpayers' hard-earned dollars, given to people like the Cuba Study Group, etc.
Even Cuban nationals have known about these plans for years and years, and that's another reason they are so determined to keep their lives free of outside manipulation.
I found, in a quick search, an interesting bit of reading which would refer to this topic. It can be read on line, but to try to copy and paste a lot of it here would be unworkable. I have discovered my security system won't allow me to open files from the Cuba Study group, etc. and there's no way in hell I'm going to open myself to their website just to get that information.
Someone with a different set-up probably could work it. Cuba Study Group, and a lot of information on the Cuba Transition Project, at the University of Miami are receiving a tidal wave of US taxpayers' own money!
This website is from the UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies:
Page #8:
~snip~
.... a critical examination of the 'intentions proposed by the United States government for 'transforming' Cuba's education and other political and social systems is necessary.
Page #9:
~snip~
423 page report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba (CAFC, 2004), published under the chairmanship of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, offers "a comprehensive range of actions and programs that could be provided to hasten a transition as well as assist Cuba once a transition is under way.....
~snip~
The report also includes 27 pages and over 50 specific recommendations advanced by the commission's report (CAFC, 2004) are considered:
(4) "facilitate the development of private, including faith-based, education and training solutions (p.98):
See entire article and report:
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9569b508#page-8
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Except for them, of course.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)Far more important than mere human beings.
Bless their patriotic hearts.
Zorro
(15,737 posts)Help reverse that brain drain. I'm sure your skills could be put to good use there.
Serious question.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)Mika
(17,751 posts)If you're that interested, I'm sure you can find it.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)But it's not a place people would want to live for extended periods.
Mika
(17,751 posts)Maybe you're unaware that I did move to & live in Cuba.
(I've posted my story here before, if you're interested you can find it.)
I'm in S Florida now.
I go back pretty often lately. I have family and many friends there.
Don't have a lot of time to respond to silly remarks ... so ... gotta go.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)something she believed she would love to do after retirement, and she was informed that if she moved to Cuba, she would not be allowed to receive her Social Security, even after a lifetime of full employment.
Odd.
Cuba wasn't threatening to without her Social Security. It would be the U.S. Government.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)Just have someone you know or trust use their address and have a separate bank account. You'd still need that person to send your money to you via whatever means.
But sure, earn your money in the US, then retire in Cuba. They are doing that in Ecuador... but shh, don't tell anyone, I'm told that's bad.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)In Venezuela especially the doctors there are literal slaves and having to endure insane conditions.