Workers Vanguard No. 854	16 September 2005

Bush Bans Cuban Medical Aid

It’s more killing by the Bush administration, this time in the name of anti-Communism. Cuban leader Fidel Castro offered to immediately dispatch nearly 1,600 Cuban doctors with over 26 tons of medical supplies to the Gulf Coast of the United States to help treat the thousands of sick and injured victims of Hurricane Katrina. But Cuba’s offer was snubbed as the hurricane victims were left to die.

A comparison of the U.S. government’s disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina with the successes of the Cuban deformed workers state illustrates why overthrowing the capitalist profit system is literally a life and death question for working people, minorities and the poor. According to a study by Oxfam, Cuba has a “culture of safety,” committed to reducing risks and saving lives. Before a Category 5 hurricane blasted Cuba last year with 160 miles per hour winds, nearly two million people were safely evacuated with no loss of life and no serious injury.

Before a hurricane season begins, Cuban authorities review and revise disaster plans based on the past year’s experience. The entire country goes through a hurricane drill, the Meteoro, trimming tree limbs, checking dams for weak points and making repairs. Every shelter is stocked with food, water and medical supplies. Neighborhood representatives from the Federation of Cuban Women identify those most vulnerable—the elderly and single mothers with young children—who might need extra help evacuating. Schools ensure that even young children know what to do and where to go. Doctors are evacuated with the communities they serve, so they know who needs insulin, heart medication, etc.

Cuban doctors have saved lives worldwide and are often first on the scene to help the victims of disasters, whether the stricken region is ruled by an ally or foe. In 1972, when a devastating earthquake hit Nicaragua during the Somoza dictatorship, Cuban doctors and field hospitals were immediately dispatched to help the victims, as they were again recently to victims of the tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Despite the choke hold of the U.S. imperialist blockade and the loss of economic aid from the former Soviet Union, the quality of medical care in Cuba is high. Amid the barrage of imperialist propaganda that Marxism “failed,” this in itself is testimony to the superiority of the planned, collectivized economy that was created in Cuba when a workers state was consolidated following the expropriations and nationalizations of private property in the summer and fall of 1960. Although the workers state was bureaucratically deformed from its inception, the planned economy, modeled on that of the Soviet Union, brought enormous gains to the Cuban people, such as jobs, free medical care, housing and universal education. These gains are today increasingly threatened, from without and within.

The Bush administration has pledged to maintain the starvation blockade against Cuba imposed by Democrat John F. Kennedy in 1962. We say: End the embargo! For unconditional defense of the Cuban Revolution against imperialist attack! U.S. out of Guantánamo! Since 1991-92, when capitalist counterrevolution destroyed the Soviet Union—Cuba’s chief ally and economic lifeline—the Castro regime has increasingly opened up the country to imperialist economic penetration. This has led to growing inequalities, particularly for the black population and women. Defense of the Cuban Revolution requires a workers political revolution to oust the bureaucracy and put political power in the hands of the working class. Defense of the Cuban Revolution requires its international extension through successful struggles for proletarian power throughout Latin America, and especially here in the belly of the U.S. imperialist beast.