Reply #19: From your article link.. [View All]

[Mika]

In the face of the growth of US hostility against Cuba, the British House of Commons recorded a 79% vote in favour of a common declaration condemning the current Bush policy against the Havana government, and warning against a future military aggression against the Cuban people. Peter Hain, Leader of the House of Commons, offered the following comments : « I am absolutely opposed to military action being taken against Cuba and also opposed to the continuing blockade of Cuba by the United States. I visited Cuba two years ago and was very impressed with the social advances that have been made despite all the pressure from the US.” (23)

The impressive level of human development reached by Cuba is totally censored by the media monopolies. On 17th September 2004, the United Nations Population Fund called the Cuban health model exemplary and praised the social policies of the Cuban government. The report of the aforementioned organisation underlined that Cuba is the only Third World country to have achieved an infant mortality rate comparable to that of industrialised nations, namely 6%.

The Caribbean region is currently being ravaged by cyclones which have caused dramatic human damage, especially in Haiti. The United Nations has praised the organisational model used in Cuba for the prevention of damage from cyclones. Hurricane Charlie cost the lives of four people in Cuba while thirty people died in Florida as it swept in. Similarly, in 1998 Hurricane George caused the death of four people in Cuba while more than 600 died in the other Caribbean countries. “Several factors can explain the low rate of mortality caused by the hurricanes in Cuba in comparison with its neighbours, such as education, damage prevention and capacity to respond”, underlined Salvano Briceno, director of the Institute for Disaster Reduction at the United Nations. As for Brigitte Leoni, spokesperson of the World Conference for Disaster Reduction which will take place in Japan in January 2005, she has commented that all countries have at their disposal the means to limit the consequences of these catastrophes, but they sometimes lack “specific programmes of action and the political will to put them in place”. (25)

In contrast to the media trans-nationals, the United Nations retains a certain objectivity about Cuba and bases its arguments on statistics and facts, putting ideological prejudices to one side. Bruno Moro, representing the United Nations Programme for Development, has affirmed that Cuba has at its disposal an advanced level of local progress with the reduction of inequality and poverty, and the country is a point of reference in this field. He underlined in particular the quality of social cover, the programmes to combat AIDS (contrary to what the international press reports on this topic) and local economic development. (26)

Cuban reality is a constant victim of distortions manufactured by the grail-bearers of the free-market religion. Washington and the extremists of the Cuban community in Florida, along with all their allies such as Havel and Aznar, seize every opportunity to destroy the Cuban revolutionary project. The American film-maker Oliver Stone had a bitter experience with them. Speaking to bemused journalists during a press conference at the San Sebastian Festival in Spain, he went back over the reasons for the censoring – which, according to him, “reached untenable levels in the USA” - of his film “Comandante”, which dealt with Fidel Castro and his vision for Cuban society:

The demonstrations that take place in the Cuban streets to favour Fidel Castro are not a fake, and if they were, the people should be awarded with the Oscar for their performance, for I have seen the joy in their faces when they approach the leader.

I found an openness and a freedom in Cuba that I have not found in any other country of the area, neither in the Caribbean nor in Central America. I have been with many world leaders in Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua and I have never seen the spontaneous affection in the streets that I have seen in Cuba toward Fidel Castro.
These crowds were totally spontaneous. There were visits to hospitals and perhaps people there could have known that we were going, but looking at the faces you know nothing was a fake. I’m a director of actors and I know when people pretend, and when they don’t. Castro asked where I wanted to go, and people approached him in a very natural way. Where in the world could this happen?

is one of the few presidents in the world who has no money abroad and has led his people to a very high educational level. <...>

Personally, I reject the "his people" comment (and Cubans do also), but, aside from that, I have been to Cuba many times and I can confirm the above observations.

Mr Castro used to drive around in an unguarded open jeep, and was regularly seen doing so all over Cuba. He'd make random stops to visit people, check up on various projects, shop at markets and such. He would usually be swarmed by well wishers and regular people wanting to meet him. He is a man of the people and has few pretenses when among them. He loved to hear directly from them, to interact and understand their situations. He'd take notes when fielding complaints and problems. He would personally oversee disaster mitigation efforts (hurricanes, landslides, droughts, etc) When in Cuba he never wore a bullet proof vest and never had anything like the extreme security that US presidents have in the US.



-