Vol. 80/No. 44 November 21, 2016
In face of US embargo, Cuba led the fight
against Ebola
As part of sugarcoating U.S. imperialism’s hostility to the Cuban Revolution, Power cited Cuban-U.S. cooperation in the fight to combat the Ebola epidemic in 2014. Three thousand U.S. personnel went “to the epicenter of the outbreak,” she said, cynically adding that “President Obama also set about rallying other member states to do their part,” and that “one of the very first countries to come forward was Cuba.”
In his speech, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez noted that when Cuban health workers were risking their lives treating Ebola patients, their work “was hampered” by the embargo because “even under such extreme circumstances” Washington blocked necessary fund transfers.
That’s just one example of how Power twisted reality on its head.
On Sept. 12, 2014, World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan said there were only 170 foreign heath care workers combating Ebola in West Africa. That day Cuba’s Public Health Minister Roberto Morales announced that Havana was sending 165 volunteer doctors and nurses to Sierra Leone. The number of Cuban internationalist volunteers fighting Ebola in West Africa rapidly grew to 256, more than from any other country.
While Cuba sent doctors, the U.S. Peace Corps evacuated all its personnel, including health education workers.
Cuba’s announcement put pressure on much wealthier governments. Soon after, Barack Obama said Washington would send military engineers as well as teachers to train health care workers in Liberia. The Cuban government from the start welcomed any U.S. contribution to the effort and offered to work together any way they could.
And the 3,000 U.S. personnel that Power bragged about?
They were mostly soldiers who did not treat a single patient. Instead, they were sent to build as many as 17 treatment centers — but only completed 10, some so late they were no longer needed.
Even capitalist dailies could not ignore Cuba’s leading role. The U.N. “is calling for nations to dispatch doctors and nurses to West Africa,” the Oct. 9, 2014, Wall Street Journal reported. “Few have heeded the call, but one country has responded in strength: Cuba.”
Meanwhile, Rodríguez noted, Washington continues to promote “the shameful ‘Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program,’” trying to get Cuban doctors and nurses to abandon internationalist missions and move to the U.S.
Related articles:
Cuban artists in UK: ‘Art isn’t a privilege, it’s a right’
‘A ‘revolutionary’ who doesn’t behave as such is a charlatan’
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