Fidel Castro, Longtime Dictator of Cuba, Has Died

[Sandokan]

His tyrannical regime denied all the fundamental rights in a democracy, like freedom of opinion, freedom of writing, freedom of speech, the freedom to assemble and the freedom to believe. Thousands of Cubans have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and executed for expressing their opinions. He established the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) to check on the activities of their neighbors on their respective block, acting as spies to keep a tight hold on them. The CR are similar to Mussolini’s brownshirts and Hitler’s blockwarts (block wardens). He created a totalitarian state.

 

[Sandokan]

Fact #10. He established a fraudulent school system that provided indoctrination rather than education, and created a two-tier health-care system, with inferior medical care for the majority of Cubans and superior care for himself and his oligarchy, and then claimed that all his repressive measures were absolutely necessary to ensure the survival of these two ostensibly “free” social welfare projects.

The Education in Cuba is under the absolute control of the Castroit regime. It begin in the elementary school with the so-called "Cumulative School File." It measures "revolutionary integration," not only of the student but also of his family. This file documents whether or not the child and family participate in mass demonstrations, or whether they belong to a church or religious group. His university options will depend on what that file says. If he does not conform to the regime indoctrination, he will be denied many career possibilities.

 

[SDET]

Fact #10. He established a fraudulent school system that provided indoctrination rather than education, and created a two-tier health-care system, with inferior medical care for the majority of Cubans and superior care for himself and his oligarchy, and then claimed that all his repressive measures were absolutely necessary to ensure the survival of these two ostensibly “free” social welfare projects.

The Education in Cuba is under the absolute control of the Castroit regime. It begin in the elementary school with the so-called "Cumulative School File." It measures "revolutionary integration," not only of the student but also of his family. This file documents whether or not the child and family participate in mass demonstrations, or whether they belong to a church or religious group. His university options will depend on what that file says. If he does not conform to the regime indoctrination, he will be denied many career possibilities.

I was surprised how anal retentive they are over having an education monopoly. I got yelled at for making plans to offer free programming classes. I was sternly warned not to carry out those plans.

This 18 year old I knew a couple of years ago has a father that was a balsero. Because her father fled the country without permission, she has no prospects beyond either being a cleaning girl or depending on tourists to have any money at all. The cleaning girl job pays about 15 dollars per month. Her hands were shaking when I handed her 700 dollars for spending ten days with me.

 

[Sandokan]

Education was wide spread in Cuba before Castro. During Batista first government (1940-44), the primary and secondary education were improved with the creation of the so called rural civic schools, and the Civic-Military Institutes at secondary level. By the end of 1944 there were 2,710 rural civic schools with an enrollment of 110,700 students, and three Civic-Military Institutes with and enrolment around 3,500 orphan students recipient of a government grant. In 1958, there were 4,924 rural schools with an enrolment of 205,800 students, and a system of mobile libraries with 180,000 volumes used predominantly in the rural areas. The total number of kindergartens and primary schools, including private schools, were 12,700.

 

[Sandokan]

By 1958 Cuba had 34,000 teachers in public schools and 3,500 in private schools educating a total of 1,346,800 students. The public school system covered from kindergarten up to High School. There were 171 high schools with an enrollment of 49,200 students, and 114 trade schools for technicians and professions with an enrollment of 38,430 students. All these schools were free. Another 165 private high schools had an enrollment of 36,280 students, for a total of 85,480 students in high school. The number of universities reached 7, 4 state universities and 3 privates, whit a total of 25,295 university students, of which 23,230 were enrolled in the state universities and 2,065 in the private ones.

 

[Sandokan]

The female percentage, in relation to the total student population, was the highest in the Western Hemisphere including the US. The United Nations Statistics Division yearbook of 1959 shows Cuba having 3.8 university students per 1,000 inhabitants, well above the Latin America median of 2.6. Cuban texts books were exported to several Latin American countries, bringing $10 million revenue in 1958.

UNESCO (1960) recognized Cuba as the only Latin-American country which since 1940 reached the goal that all the teachers possessed a title of normal school or university pedagogy title.

 

[Sandokan]

From 1899 to 1958 the illiteracy rate dropped from 59.5% (Census of 1899) to 18% (Cuba's Ministry of Education archives) for persons older than 10 years of age, a remarkable achievement. Cubans were not just literate but also educated.

There is a pattern from the regime to inflate the percentage of illiterates prior to 1959, by using the illiteracy rate of the 1953 census of 23.8%. Fidel Castro on December 17, 1960, in the CMQ-TV program "Meet the Press" affirmed that “The illiteracy rate in our country is 37.5%.” In the Central Report to the First Congress of the Party in 1975, Fidel said that “on the date of the Moncada (1953), 23.6% of the population over 10 years was illiterate.” [1]. In spite of what Fidel said, the document "V Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in October 1997, referring to the period before 1959 says “a country with more than 40 per cent of illiterates.” [2]

The regime eventually acknowledge the real number, which indicated that in 1961 from a total of 929,207 identified as illiterates, 707,212 were taught to read and write; 221,995 did not acquire these skills [3].

[1] Fidel Castro Ruz: Informe Central al Primer Congreso del Partido. Editado por el DOR del Comité Central del PCC, Habana, Cuba, 1975, p. 27.

[2] Granma Internacional 1997, Welcome cartadecuba.org - Justhost.com

[3] Verde Olivo (Havana), August 16, 1968, pp. 40-43 - En ese año se habían localizado 979.207 analfabetos y de ellos se habían alfabetizado 707.212; de la población cubana, entonces estimada en 6.933.253 habitantes. Quedaban sin alfabetizar 271.955 [In that year, 979,207 illiterate people had been located and from them 707,212 had been literate; from the Cuban population, then estimated at 6,933,253 inhabitants, 271,955 were left iliterate]

 

[Sandokan]

UN statistics below reveals that the whole hemisphere has made enormous strides in literacy over the past 40 years without the need “to wage a battle against illiteracy.” Cuba in 1953 had a percentage of illiterates lower than all other Latin American countries except Argentina, Chile, and Costa Rica. This statistics don’t have into consideration the quality of Cuban education, which is loaded with heavy doses of ideology. Literacy rates are no excuse to introduce a totalitarian regime.
Latin America: Literacy Rates (Percent)

Country------1950-53------1995-----Pct. Pt increase

Argentina-------- 87------------96------------10
Cuba--------------76------------96------------19
Chile--------------81------------95------------15
Costa Rica--------79------------95------------16
Paraguay----------68------------92------------24
Colombia----------62------------91------------20
Panamá-----------72------------91------------19
Ecuador ----------56------------90------------34
Brasil--------------49------------83------------35

Source: UN STATISTICAL YEARBOOK 1957, pp. 600-602; UN STATISTICAL YEARBOOK 2000, pp. 76-82.

Data for 1950-53 are age 10 and over. Data for 1995 are age 15 and over, reflecting a change in common usage over this period.

 

[Sandokan]

The myth of the success of the Cuban Health Care System

The myth of Castro tyranny about the success of the Cuban Health Care System, is debunked by an article titled “Re-examining the Cuban Health Care System” included in the latest edition of the online journal, “Cuban Affairs,” published by the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, and a report written by Dr. Hilda Molina smuggled out of the island.

The author, University of Oklahoma Professor Katherine Hirschfeld, spent nine months in the island living with a Cuban family and interviewing family doctors, medical specialists, social workers, nurses and patients as part of her research

Conducting qualitative ethnographic research in Cuba is not easy. North American anthropologists have historically been viewed with suspicion by the Cuban government, and in some cases research permission has been revoked for individuals who took a critical perspective or inadvertently broached the issue of political dissent (Lewis, 1977; Rosendahl, 1997). In my own case, the overwhelmingly positive portrayal of Cuba in the medical anthropology and public health literature meant that I arrived on the island with very favorable expectations. I never anticipated my research would evolve into a critique.(…)

The Cuban Ministry of Health [MINSAP] expects physicians to structure their clinical interventions to achieve the Ministry’s annual health goals. As with other sectors of the economy, MINSAP sets statistical targets that are viewed as the equivalent of production quotas. The most carefully guarded of these health targets is the infant mortality rate. Any doctor who had an unusually high rate of infant deaths in his or her jurisdiction would be viewed as having failed in a number of critical respects.”
Re-examining the Cuban Health Care System, 404 - File or directory not found., Vol. 2, Issue 3-July 2007.
(PDF) Re-examining the Cuban Health Care System: Towards a Qualitative Critique

 

[Sandokan]

The myth of the success of the Cuban Health Care System

The myth of Castro tyranny about the success of the Cuban Health Care System, is debunked by an article titled “Re-examining the Cuban Health Care System” included in the latest edition of the online journal, “Cuban Affairs,” published by the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, and a report written by Dr. Hilda Molina smuggled out of the island.

The author, University of Oklahoma Professor Katherine Hirschfeld, spent nine months in the island living with a Cuban family and interviewing family doctors, medical specialists, social workers, nurses and patients as part of her research

Dr. Hilda Molina, a former member the Cuban National Assembly, is one of Cuba's most distinguished scientists. She broke with the government on the issue of medical apartheid, the denial of medical care or medicine to Cubans while the same services are provided to dollar-paying foreign patients. Dr. Molina is founder of Havana's International Center for Neurological Restoration. She and her elderly mother were virtual hostages on the island for 15 years, until recently that were permitted to travel abroad. Dr. Hilda Molina report “Cuban Medicine Today”, was smuggled out of the island, and published by Center for a Free Cuba, December 28, 2004
Center for a Free Cuba - Cuban Medicine Today

For an accurate picture of what the average Cuban undergoes in healthcare, please visit the harrowing pictures smuggled out of Cuba (at enormous peril) and posted on Free Healthcare? |. If a picture is normally worth a thousand worth then these are worth a million.

The 20/20 program about healthcare in Cuba video: YouTube.

Hannity and Colmes' program about health care in Cuba for regular Cubans video: YouTube

“The man who assumed most of the risk during the filming and smuggling was Cuban dissident Dr. Darsi Ferrer, a medical doctor himself. Dr. Ferrer was also willing to talk on camera, narrating the video’s revelations. Dr Ferrer works in these Cuban hospitals, a daily witness to the truth that some prefer to ignore.”

 

[Sandokan]

Physicians in Cuba are forced to work for a salary of $45 per month (1,170 pesos) which does not cover even their bare necessities. Many doctors quit the profession and seek jobs in the only industry that offers any chance for economic opportunity and access to dollars, the Cuban tourism industry. Because so many health workers are working overseas, and others have quit the profession, there is a shortage in Cuba.

Many Cuban physicians in overseas missions defect to freedom. From news media reports:

Cuban doctors in SA see red, News24.com. South Africa, February 10, 2003. Cuban doctors in SA see red
Close to 200 doctors have absconded since 1996.

Cuban saga takes new twist, DENVER ISAACS, nabibian.com, June 4, 2007
Namibia: Cuban Saga Takes New Twist - allAfrica.com

Continues the chain of desertions of Cuban doctors in Bolivia
LANUEVACUBA.COM

Bolivia
La Nueva Cuba, October 5, 2006

At least there are 70 Cuban doctors who have deserted in the past three months in Santa Cruz, in an attempt to recover "the freedom lost many years ago.”

Cuban Doctors Manage to Defect Via Venezuela
Latin American Herald Tribune - Cuban Doctors Manage to Defect Via Venezuela
Around 8,000 Cuban doctors have defected to the United States while serving on aid missions in Venezuela.

 

[Sandokan]

The doctors serving in those countries are essentially under surveillance all the time and any change in their plans not consistent with the orders given from Havana invariably lead to the involvement of police or paramilitary security forces. It is no wonder that many physicians in such missions defect to freedom. About 10,000 health workers, many of them physicians, have left Cuba in the last ten years.
Link: Doctors in Cuba Start Over in the U.S. - The New York Times

 

[Sandokan]

The doctors serving in those countries are essentially under surveillance all the time and any change in their plans not consistent with the orders given from Havana invariably lead to the involvement of police or paramilitary security forces. It is no wonder that many physicians in such missions defect to freedom. About 10,000 health workers, many of them physicians, have left Cuba in the last ten years.
Link: Doctors in Cuba Start Over in the U.S. - The New York Times

Castro's "doctor diplomacy" involves utilizing Cuban physicians to serve in areas where the Cuban regime has entered into contractual relationships with the expressed intention of providing health care aid and establishing or nourishing diplomatic relations with the host community. The physicians serving in these units are essentially under surveillance all the time and any change in their plans not consistent with the orders given from Havana invariably lead to the involvement of police or paramilitary security forces. It is no wonder that many physicians in such missions defect to freedom.

 

[Sandokan]

Under the Castroit regime health care monopoly, the state assumes complete control. Average Cubans suffer long waits at government hospitals, while many services and technologies are available only to the Cuban party elite and foreign "health tourists" who pay with hard currency. Moreover, access to such rudimentary medicines as antibiotics and Aspirin can be limited, and patients often must bring their own bed sheets and blankets while in care and food too.

 

[Sandokan]

There are a total of 70,000 Cuban doctors. According to MINSAP 30,000 Cuban doctor’s work overseas and another 13,000 have left Cuba. The actual numbers of doctors in Cuba reach 27,000. Of those 10% quit their profession to work in more lucrative jobs, leaving only 24,300 working in their profession. The regime has acknowledged that there is a shortage of doctors and nurses in Cuba. On December 2007 the vice minister of public health, Joaquín García Salaberría, took the highly unusual step of admitting on Cuban television that there were shortages of doctors and nurses. The real per capita of doctors in Cuba is one doctor per 469 people.

One example includes doctors from Cuba. According to this story in The New York Times, “6,000 medical professionals, many of them physicians, have left Cuba in the last six years.
Doctors in Cuba Start Over in the U.S. - The New York Times

 

[Sandokan]

Many of the Cuban doctors that accept to work overseas do so as a way to escape from the miserable life in the island. But in many of those countries the doctors find out they are imprisoned in their new assignments. They are send to work in remote communities and restricted means of transportation, and under surveillance all the time. If there are changes in their plans not consistent with the regime guidelines would normally lead to involvement of the police. Because they live their lives in servitude to work in those countries, many doctors in such medical missions defect to freedom. About 8,000 health workers, many of them physicians, have left Cuba in the last ten years.

 

[Sandokan]

There are enormous differences between medicine in Cuba and in the United States. Aside from old books used in their training, Cuban medical students and doctors must contend with a lack of modern equipment and, often, of drugs and diagnostic tools taken for granted in developed countries.

Foreign doctors trained in languages other than English face immense challenges getting a license to practice in the United States. Not only must they relearn their profession in English, but many must also work to support themselves and their families. Cuban doctors, in particular, tend to be older by the time they arrive in the United States, sometimes too old to dedicate years to studying for exams and finding and completing a residency program.

 

[Sandokan]

Foreigners, members of the power elite and top military have an exclusive health care system which offers excellent medical care with the best resources and optimal conditions. This system is out of bounds for the common Cuban citizen.

Also, and as a result of official policy, there have been programs and medical services that have been terminated, such as the Program of the Family Doctor and Nurse, in order to satisfy the massive export plans of health professionals, as well as donations made to other countries of drugs and medical resources, which regular Cubans do not have available. This has a double purpose, to obtain hard currency and gain political support.

 

[Sandokan]

The ruling class offers no solution to the problem of caring for the people's health because it doesn't have the capacity to do so, and at the same time it doesn't consider it a priority.

The regime inability is a result of the total failure of the totalitarian model, which is responsible for the increasing poverty and hardship of the population. It is commonly accepted the regime's economic disaster, lack of liquidity, productivity, the huge bureaucracy and corruption at all levels of government.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba health Care System before 1959

In 1958, including governmental, municipal, and private hospitals and clinics, Cuba had about 35,000 beds for 6.6 million inhabitants—an impressive one bed per every 190 inhabitants.

Cuba’s infant mortality rate of 32 per 1,000 live births in 1957 was the lowest in Latin America and the 13th lowest in the world, according to UN data. Cuba ranked ahead of France, Belgium, West Germany, Israel, Japan, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, all of which would eventually overtake Cuba in this indicator during the following decades (UN 1979, pp. 67-188).

Today, Cuba remains the most advanced country in the region in this measure, but its world ranking has fallen from 13th to 25th during the Castro era, according to UN Data (1997b, pp. 93-100). Also missing from the conventional analysis of Cuba’s infant mortality rates is its staggering abortion rate—0.71 abortions per live birth in 1991, according to the latest UN data—which, because of selective termination of “high-risk” pregnancies, yields lower numbers for infant mortality. Cuba’s abortion rate is at least twice the rate for the other countries listed in Table 1 for which data are available (UN 1997a, pp. 322- 326, 369-370).

Table 1. World: Infant Mortality
(Deaths per 1,000 live births)

Country--------1957----------1990-95
Japan------------40-----------------4
Iceland----------16-----------------5
Sweden----------18----------------5
Norway----------21-----------------5
Switzerland-----23-----------------5
Finland----------28-----------------5
Netherlands---- 18-----------------6
Canada----------31-----------------6
Germany a------36-----------------6
Luxembourg----39-----------------6
Australia--------21-----------------7
United King-----24-----------------7
Ireland----------33-----------------7
France-----------34----------------7
Austria----------44-----------------7
Denmark--------23----------------8
Belgium---------36----------------8
Italy-------------50----------------8
Spain------------53----------------8
New Zealand----24----------------9
United States---26----------------9
Israel------------39----------------9
Greece----------44----------------9
Portugal---------88----------------9
Cuba------------32---------------10

Source: UN 1979, pp. 67-188; UN 1997b, pp. 93-100

a. For 1957, includes only the Federal Republic of Germany,

 

[Sandokan]

In terms of physicians and dentists per capita, Cuba ranked third in Latin America in 1957, behind only Uruguay and Argentina—both of which were more advanced than the United States in this measure. Cuba’s 128 physicians and dentists per 100,000 people in 1957 placed Cuba at the same level as the Netherlands, and ahead of the United Kingdom (122 per 100,000 people) and Finland (96) (UN 1960, pp. 569-573; UN 1979, pp. 67-188). Unfortunately, the UN Statistical Yearbook no longer publishes these statistics, so more recent comparisons are not possible, but it is completely erroneous to characterize pre-revolutionary Cuba as backward in terms of healthcare.

 

[Sandokan]

Cuba's infant mortality rate

Cuba's infant mortality rate is kept low by the regime’s tampering with statistics, by a ow birth rate of 12.5 births per
1000 population, and by a staggering abortion rate of 77.7 abortions per 1,000 women (0.78 abortions per each live birth. Data based on official statistics from the Cuban government). Cuba had the lowest birth rate and doubles the abortion rate in Latin America. Cuba's abortion rate was the 3rd highest out of the 60 countries studied. (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/25s3099.html)

 

[Sandokan]

Another health parameter linked to infant mortality, is the maternal mortality rate. Cuba’s maternal mortality rate is 33 deaths per 1,000 live births. This health statistic is high despite the fact that Cuba has the lowest birth rate in Latin America. The doctors are supposed to suggest abortion in risky pregnancies and, in some occasions, must perform the interruption without the consent of the couple. Cuban pediatricians constantly falsify figures for the regime. If an infant dies during his first year, the doctors often report he/she was older (infant mortality rate is define by the number of deaths during the first year of life per thousand live births). Otherwise, such lapses could cost him severe penalties and his job.

Cuba's infant mortality rate of 32 per 1,000 live births in 1957 was the 13th lowest in the world, according to UN Statistical Yearbook published in 1997 (pp. 85-86). Cuba ranked ahead of France, Belgium, West Germany, Japan, Austria, Italy, and Spain.

Infant mortality rate at birth in 2009 was 5.1 per 1,000 live births 33th in the world. All previous countries have overtaken Cuba in this indicator.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate)

 

[Sandokan]

It is well known fact that totalitarian regimes inflate statistics. Cuba's infant mortality rate is kept low by the regime’s tampering with statistics, by a low birth rate of 12.5 births per 1000 population, and by a staggering abortion rate of 77.7 abortions per 1,000 women (0.78 abortions per each live birth. Data based on official statistics from the Cuban government). Cuba had the lowest birth rate and doubles the abortion rate in Latin America. Cuba's abortion rate was the 3rd highest out of the 60 countries studied. (http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/25s3099.html)

The Castroit regime keeps a close track of the performance of each doctor at Cuba's maternity hospitals, any doctor who report a death of a baby that would impact the infant mortality rate could get in trouble. Once doctor decides to guard his quotas, patients have no right to refuse abortion, "Otherwise it might raise the infant mortality rate.”

 

[Sandokan]

Another health parameter linked to infant mortality, is the maternal mortality rate. Cuba’s maternal mortality rate is 33 deaths per 1,000 live births. This health statistic is high despite the fact that Cuba has the lowest birth rate in Latin America. The doctors are supposed to suggest abortion in risky pregnancies and, in some occasions, must perform the interruption without the consent of the couple. Cuban pediatricians constantly falsify figures for the regime. If an infant dies during his first year, the doctors often report he/she was older (infant mortality rate is define by the number of deaths during the first year of life per thousand live births). Otherwise, such lapses could cost him severe penalties and his job.