[NYTr] Anti-Cuban Cliches

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

La Jornada, Mezico via Juventud Rebelde - Sep 1, 2007
http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/columnists/2007-09-01/anti-cuban-cliches/

(Escerpted from "La Jornada," Mexico)


Anti-Cuban Clichés

By Gilberto Lopez y Rivas

I recently engaged in a debate on [Mexican] national television over the
topic of Cuba. During the prickly debate, old and well-known myths and
prejudices came to light, fed during decades of permanent attacks
against the Cuban revolution, their leaders and the socialist regime
established by the Cuban people in the exercise of their right to
self-determination and sovereignty.

My opponent outlined an impoverished Cuban reality, governed by a
«police state» that imposes an ideological dictatorship in the
education, training and informing of the inert masses of children and
citizens who, under the rigorous control of the Communist Party, make
breakfast, lunch and diner their main daily concern.

How does this perspective —according to this tarnished vision— of a
country, where malnutrition, survival, repression and fear rule, fit in
with the achievements made by Cuba in the areas of culture, education,
sports, healthcare and other social indicators?

Is it possible that under the terror of an omnipresent state,
literature, art, music, dance, modern science, biotechnology, computer
science and anthropology all flourish? How is it possible to correlate
this gloomy description of Jose Marti’s country with that of the giant
of international solidarity, the country that helped defeat the racist
South African army in Angola, creating conditions for the downfall of
apartheid? The same country that sends doctors, teachers and support
personnel to the most remote and needy places on the planet, even
offering its archenemy the United States immediate medical aid during
the 2005 tragedy in New Orleans? The island where the percentage of
women professionals and technical experts exceed their male
counterparts.

How can one explain the Cuban achievements in education, where 100
percent of their citizens possess primary and secondary education
levels and school performances in mathematics surpassing those in the
United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Norway? Or
where the average class size of 20 for primary schools is less than all
the above-mentioned countries along with Spain, France and Japan? In
children under the age of five, Cuba boasts an infant mortality rate of
8 for every 1,000 live births, while this rate is 37 in Latin America
and 81 per 1,000 live births worldwide. Added to this achievement is
the fact that 100 percent of Cuban children are vaccinated.

Life expectancy at birth is 74 in Cuba and 66 worldwide. There are 590
doctors in Cuba for every 100,000 inhabitants compared to 160 for every
100,000 in Latin America. The revolution has made Cuba a world power in
biomedicine and science which it has used to help provide poor
countries with vaccines, and innovative treatments and medicine.

My opponent in the program emphasized the limited offerings in
newspapers and magazines even when there are 577 periodicals, 128
publishing companies, dozens of internet publications, 382 public
libraries, 57 theaters, 135 art galleries, 302 cultural centers, 265
museums, 406 movie theaters and 364 bookstores. "According to UNESCO
figures, between 1989 and 1994, public libraries in Cuba had 48 books
for every 100 inhabitants, equaling Italy and surpassing Mexico (36),
Peru (25), Costa Rica (10) and Chile (5)." (Alfonso Sastre, et al. Cuba
2005. Editorial Hiru.)

I have been able to personally observe and confirm the sociopolitical
level of students in all levels of schooling, and that of television
audiences by way of daily news programs, courses and special programs
such as The Round Table.

Cuba, a police state? Cuba is a country where there are no
extrajudicial executions; where, since the triumph of the 1959
revolution, the armed forces have never been used to suppress or
massacre defenseless protestors; where the murder and violent crime
rates are the lowest in the world; where there are no kidnappings or
organized crime; where the police and military authorities have not
been infiltrated by drug traffickers; that is, a country where the
state of law rules and where justice is not for sale; where the rich,
powerful and politicians are not offered impunity.

The greatest victory of the Cuban Revolution is visible to all: a noble
and educated people who have been able to successfully resist the most
ferocious blockade and the United States’ longest military and covert
war, while building a socialism that, not devoid of shortages, errors
and deficiencies, fosters an alternative for a dignified life for human
beings surrounded by the sea of death and destruction of the capitalist
world.