Hi y'all, I don't normally make posts like this but with all eyes on American imperialism in Palestine I wanted to draw attention to American Imperialism a bit closer to home. I'm talking about the misinformation campaign and blockade of Cuba.
I have been in Cuba for a week now (and will be here for another) and what I have seen and heard has changed my view of what is possible in this world.
In Cuba housing is free, physical and mental health care are free, education is free and available to anyone who wants it at any level. Gay and trans rights, elderly rights, disabled rights, gender and racial equality, freedom of speech, and women's right to abortion are all constitutionally guaranteed. There is no homelessness, no violent crime, no recreational drugs (other than alcohol and tobacco), the streets are clean and don't smell like piss. I wandered around downtown Havana at until 3 in the morning and it's amazing how safe it feels.
I went to a small health clinic this afternoon to talk to the medical staff and they were describing what it means on the ground to have the most doctors per capita in the world. There is a health clinic with a doctor and nurse in every neighborhood / community and their is a hospital within a 30 minute drive of everyone in Cuba. They provide mostly house calls, so the doctors come around minimum twice a year to check on everyone in each family. All medical services are provided as a government service like a library in the US. And they have one of the most advanced biotechnology industries in the world. They created 3 separate COVID-19 vaccines that are as effective or more than Pizer, Moderna, and J&Js and with less side effects. It's hard to believe a place like this can exist and I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes.
Their system of government is fascinating. It's mostly volunteers. All of the local politicians have other jobs and do politics as a volunteer service after work. Everyone is expected to participate in their local government and to provide feedback and suggestions to improve government services. To draft the new 2019 constitution, there were over 80,000 meetings to make sure all 11 million people in the country had a chance to read it, understand it and make comments and amendments before the country voted on it. Their elected officials are as diverse as the communities they serve. Cuba has the second most percentage of women in their national assembly in the world at 53.4% (for comparison the US is at a record 28%)
Cuba is not a utopia. The island is poor and suffering and it is getting poorer every year due to the American blockade. The blockade is the combination of hundreds of pieces of legislation that together make importing any goods to Cuba either impossible or 10-20x more expensive. Every single aspect of life in Cuba is hurt by the blockade. Cuba imports around 70% of their food again at massively inflated prices. As well as all international trade has to be done in cash as they are excluded from the international banking system. They are cut off from foreign investment and American tourism.
For example I visited a Hydrologics factory in Cienfuegos that has to get a 3rd country to buy steel from Spain on their behalf and then sell it to them and after all the shipping and import fees it comes out to 11xs more expensive than if they could just buy it from Spain in the first place and 15x more than if they could buy it from the US steel market.
The people of Cuba need us as Americans help. Please spread this message. If you want to know more ask me anything, I am here for another week interviewing citizens, if I haven't already asked that question myself I will go find you answers.
The media has been lying to us for 65 years about the revolutionary government of Cuba. It's time to stop listening to American media's misinformation and to put pressure on our elected representatives to end American Imperialism in Palestine and in Cuba
