5 Days in Havana, Part 4.5: Cuban Resilience vs. the Blockade (cont.)
Solidarity Without Borders
A month ago I traveled to Havana as part of a 44-person delegation from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). We left Havana with a shared understanding and mission:
The blockade is inhumane and evil, and we must end it.
THIS IS ONE PART IN A SERIES OF “FIVE” POSTS:
- Part 1 provides foundational knowledge on the blockade
- Part 2 covers some of its effects on travel and schools, but counters with how revolutionary solidarity empowers the Cuban people to withstand those challenges
- Part 3 describes the harrowing impacts it has on medicine in Cuba and worldwide
- Part 4 focuses on the beauty of Cuban resiliency and its imperfect, ongoing socialist project within the Revolution
- Part 4.5 continues what turned out to be too much for one part
- Part 5 concludes with questions left unanswered and a call for action
“We all have family in Palestine”
In the first half of Part 4, I talked about how, despite the extreme hardships of the blockade, Cuba has made some of the most advanced strides in social justice in the world.
Next, to continue the theme of making forward progress even in their harsh environment, I’m going to expand the concept of revolutionary solidarity that I touched on in Part 2 to a realm that Cuba knows well: the international.
The very first moment of our program was one that will stick with me and with our delegation forever. Mariela Castro—one of the leading women in Cuba; the niece of the figurehead of the Revolution; the daughter of two of the most important other figures of the Revolution—joins us at CENESEX, says just a few words, and immediately asks for a minute of silence for the people of Palestine.
Not a word about Cuba. Not a word about her organization or who she is. Straight to meditating on Palestine and Israel’s ongoing attempt at genocide of its people.
Later, when Director Castro opened up Q&A, one of our comrades spoke emotionally about that moment—how to him, especially in the face of the response of our elected officials, having someone of her stature do that made him feel human again. She responded:
We all have family in Palestine.
It was a beautiful declaration that becomes more and more powerful and relevant the more Palestinians die and suffer at the hands of an apartheid state.
InternatioKnown
Put into the context of history, Director Castro’s comments are well within a continuity of unwavering international solidarity from the Revolution, especially considering how Cuba joined the fight against apartheid South Africa in Angola.
What Cuba’s revolutionary international solidarity may be best known for, though, is its voluntary medical brigades and providing medical support to other countries. And not to beat a dead horse, but remember that they do this even in the face of the blockade imposing severe domestic hardships on medicine, as I touched on in Part 3.
While 1960 marked their first medical mission, the actual program started in 1963 when a brigade was sent to Algeria. Today there are over 23,000 Cuban health professionals in 55 countries, and over the course of its 63-year history, nearly 606,000 Cubans have served in 165 countries.
They don’t shy away from difficult situations, either. The “Henry Reeve Brigade” (HRIMB) is a special unit that focuses on supporting communities facing the toughest medical challenges in the world. They were dispatched to support countries during even the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic when we didn’t know much about the virus. They’ve faced ebola outbreaks in West Africa. They tried to support the people of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but Dubyah refused their aid. Read more about the critical impact of their work here upon their being awarded the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health in 2017.
By the way, these medical brigades are often sent in exchange “in trade” for other resources or direct compensation (as is necessitated by the blockade), but not always—Cuba does provide some of its support for free.
My comrade and one of the head organizers of our trip, Steve, made a critical point to me the other day in response to one of my posts:
Just wanted to make explicit one thing about the Cuban constitution: it reads “Public health is a right of all people” and not “of Cuban citizens.” The very same article you quoted is also the basis of Cuba’s medical internationalism!
That is, the revolutionary international solidarity of Cuba’s medical practice isn’t just a thing that Cuba does. As something that’s written into its constitution—a constitution that was ratified with a ‘yes’ vote of 76% in 2019—it’s an intentional part of what the country is and how the Cuban people identify. And that is simply, at its core, international socialism.
While they are still deployed despite the blockade, the brigades aren’t immune to its effects. In the 2017 article linked above, there’s a mention of 50,000 Cubans serving in 66 countries. As the blockade has tightened since then, it has reduced the capacity of the Cuban people to serve abroad by over half.
Using the article’s numbers, 80,000 lives have been saved by the HRIMB alone in 12 years. The HRIMB represented just 15% of the brigades’ personnel at the time. One has to wonder: How many lives have been lost unnecessarily due to the forced diminishment of the entire medical brigade program?
Whatever the actual number, the results are certainly damning. Recall Che’s quote on the billboard at the front of University Hospital Calixto Garcia:
The life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the properties of the richest man on earth.
Fusterlandia
One of the most fun stops we made on the trip was to a neighborhood dubbed “Fusterlandia.”
Fusterlandia was dreamed up by artist José Fuster. At its heart is a fantastical playground of mosaics that speak for themselves.
This is my jam. When I envision a socialist future, I envision one full of art and music, and in particular, art and music that are baked into the very fabric of communities. That’s why I loved hearing from the elementary school principal about artistic parents and art institutes being a critical part of Arts education in Cuba. That’s why I love that one of the CDR’s construction projects in the neighborhood we visited was an amphitheater. That’s why I love Fusterlandia.
Notice, too, in that center photo, how Fusterlandia has its “core” area, but other buildings around it are decorated. Rather than being an island of art, Fuster interacts with his neighbors to spice up surrounding infrastructure, as well. Revolutionary solidarity in art in action.
Check out my comrade Danny’s TiKTok video walking into Fusterlandia here.
“If you follow the Cuban example, you will pay, and it will hurt”
The quote above is from Deputy Foreign Minister de Cossio upon describing the United States’s message to the world.
In my posts, I’ve described a culture of resiliency in the face of extreme hardship. I’ve touched on a culture of community steeped in historic ideals and tight bonds. I’ve contrasted some of this culture with our own.
Still, in just the last two years, 400,000 Cubans have migrated to the United States.
So why do so many people—and specifically young people—leave Cuba?
The Cuban spirit can only take so much.
With the basic needs that are provided, sure enough the Cuban people can live—and sure enough they can lead a fulfilling life, especially considering their culture of revolutionary solidarity. But that doesn’t mean that many people in Cuba, who are more connected than ever with the outside world, aren’t looking for something more.
During the portion of our visit with Deputy Foreign Minister de Cossio, he stressed that despite the immense pressure manufactured by the blockade, they have not seen “a place in crisis”. For example, they have not seen a rise in organized crime. They have not seen a drug crisis. There has been no opioid epidemic like there is in the United States.
Yet, when one’s standard of living is already low and is depressed even further by the rollback of the Obama/Castro agreements; when 243 additional sanctions were put into place by Trump; when after 3 years of Biden signaling no change…
It’s only natural.
But, it’s only natural coupled with the aid of U.S. policy that encourages migration from Cuba where it discourages migration from other countries. He named three of the primary reasons migration is disproportionate
(1) Economic conditions of Cuba that are fabricated with the explicit goal of causing economic harm.
(2) The U.S. accepts entry for all Cubans that reach their border—which is a policy only for Cuba.
(3) The Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives Cuban permanent residency in the U.S. after 1 year instead of 5 for anywhere else.
Part of the blockade’s efforts to cripple Cuba exists in those specific policies that the United States has adopted to make it easy for Cuban citizens—”curiously” way easier than citizens of any other country—to come and live here.
But, of course, the architects of these policies weaponize them. That is, upon creating the conditions that cause harm to the Cuban people, the U.S. invites Cubans to migrate, blames both the conditions and the influx of migrants on the Cuban government/communism, and then threatens more sanctions as consequence.
From just earlier this week on November 14, Belly of the Beast reports:
Disgusting. Infuriating. Inhumane. Insane. Sociopathic.
This approach—this continued approach—by our government is precisely why ending the blockade is in the hands of the people—of you and me. Our government isn’t just going to decide one day that they aren’t going to do evil anymore.
Again I stress that we are not to be saviours. But we have an oversized influence and responsibility to the Cuban people to provide the solidarity that only we can to liberate them from their position under the bloody heel that we actively fund through our system whether we like it or not.
A Better World is Possible
I hope I’m making myself clear with example after example: Revolutionary solidarity is the Cuban standard.
I hope that the examples I’ve described of that solidarity—from schooling to medicine to art to the family code—are inspiring.
I hope that the inspiration you feel leads you to learn more about Cuba; to brush away the fog of war for others about Cuba; and to take action for the Cuban people.
I hope that what you’ve learned energizes you to rethink what is possible in your life, your community, in our society, and in our world.
In my final post in the series, I’ll cover some personal takeaways, what questions I still have, how to mobilize against the blockade, and what I want to do next time I inevitably visit Cuba.
“Omelette du fromage!”
(that’s all you can say~! that’s all you can…)
As I’ll reiterate in every post in this series, I don’t claim to be an expert on Cuba. Reading and listening to material over the last year and a half and visiting the country once doesn’t make me an authority on anything.
I do know one thing, though: The blockade must end. The Cuban people must be allowed to live.
If you have questions, I’m happy to answer them as well as I can. Please don’t hesitate to ask.
Peace,
Greg
PS: A better world is possible—join DSA today and let’s fight for it together 🌹
PPS: Some photos are mine but others are from other comrades on the trip (who I won’t name for anonymity’s sake unless any of you reading this wants credit!).
