The Hawk Says: 72 hours later - Cuban aid to Haiti was immediate
Talking
about the lack of doctors in Haiti - as Castro notes below, before
the earthquake, 400 Cuban doctors were already working in Haiti
(for
free) and 400 Haitians had trained in Cuba (for free) to be
doctors.
Stan
Smith
72 Hours LATER: finally
help arrives in Haiti
When I heard it took 72 hours to
get first relief responders to Haiti (on NPR), I was
shocked! When the tsunami hit - UN and global gov't
response was rapid: lots of wealthy tourists to save. Like
Katrina (and Roseland, Englewood: slow hurricane, slow
earthquake), help arrives slowly to Haiti.
Dr. Lora: If you're still reading SSFP
emails: THANKS for a) being a doctor with a heart, guts and
spine and b) for going to help: On a good day in Haiti, there
are only 3 doctors for every 10,000 people.
~
MB
Reflections of Fidel
castro
The lesson of
Haiti
TWO days ago, at almost six o’clock
in the evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical
location,
night had already fallen in Haiti, television stations began to
broadcast the news that a violent earthquake – measuring 7.3 on the
Richter scale – had
severely struck Port-au-Prince. The seismic phenomenon originated
from a tectonic fault located in the sea just 15 kilometers from
the
Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population inhabit fragile
homes built of adobe and mud.
The news continued almost without
interruption for hours. There was no footage, but it was confirmed
that many public buildings, hospitals, schools and more
solidly-constructed facilities were reported collapsed. I have read
that an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the
energy released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.
Tragic descriptions were
transmitted. Wounded people in the streets were crying out for
medical help, surrounded by ruins under which their relatives were
buried. No one, however, was able to broadcast a single image for
several hours.
The news took all of us by
surprise. Many of us have frequently heard about hurricanes and
severe flooding in Haiti, but were not aware of the fact that this
neighboring country ran the risk of a massive earthquake.
It has
come to light on this occasion that 200 years ago, a massive
earthquake similarly affected this city, which would have been the
home of just a few thousand inhabitants at that time.
At midnight, there was still no
mention of an approximate figure in terms of victims.
High-ranking
United Nations officials and several heads of government discussed
the moving events and announced that they would send emergency
brigades to help.
Given that MINUSTAH (United Stabilization Mission
in Haiti) troops are deployed there – UN forces from various
countries – some defense ministers were talking about possible
casualties among their personnel.
It was only yesterday, Wednesday
morning, when the sad news began to arrive of enormous human losses
among the population, and even institutions such as the United
Nations mentioned
that some of their buildings in that country had collapsed, a word
that does not say anything in itself
but could mean a lot.
For hours, increasingly more
traumatic news continued to arrive about the situation in this
sister nation. Figures related to the number of fatal victims were
discussed, which fluctuated, according to various versions, between
30,000 and 100,000. The images are devastating; it is evident that
the catastrophic
event has been given widespread coverage around the world,
and many governments, sincerely moved by the disaster, are making
efforts to cooperate according to their resources.
The tragedy has genuinely moved a
significant number of people, particularly those in which that
quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have stopped to
consider why Haiti is such a poor country.
Why does almost 50% of
its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why
not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation
and this enormous suffering as well?
The most curious aspect of this
story is that no one has said a single word to recall the fact that
Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and
trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters
on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first
great social revolution in our hemisphere.
Pages of
insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon’s most eminent
general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism
and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its
human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military
interventions and the extraction of its natural resources.
This historic oversight would not
be so serious if it were not for the real fact that Haiti
constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world where the
exploitation and pillage of the vast majority of the planet’s
inhabitants prevails.
Billions of people in Latin
American, Africa and Asia are suffering similar shortages although
perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of
Haiti.
Situations like that of that
country should not exist in any part of the planet, where tens of
thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or worse
conditions,
by virtue of an unjust international economic and political order
imposed on the world.
The world population is not only threatened by
natural
disasters such as that of Haiti, which is a just a pallid
shadow of what could take place in the planet as a result of
climate change, which
really was the object of ridicule, derision, and deception in
Copenhagen.
It is only just to say to all the
countries and institutions that have lost citizens or personnel
because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not doubt that in
this case, the greatest effort will be made to save human lives and
alleviate the pain of this long-suffering people.
We cannot blame
them for the natural
phenomenon that has taken place there, even if we do not
agree with the policy adopted with Haiti.
But I have to express the opinion
that it is now time to look for real and lasting solutions for that
sister nation.
In the field of healthcare and
other areas, Cuba
– despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating
with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and
healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to
the
Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the
country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young
Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now
work
with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to
save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special
effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can
be
mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to
cooperate
with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian
people and rehabilitate the injured.
Another significant number of young
Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.
We are also cooperating with the
Haitian people in other areas within our reach.
However, there can
be no other form of cooperation worthy of being described as such
than fighting in the field of ideas and political action in order
to
put an end to the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of
nations such as Haiti.
The head of our medical brigade
reported: "The situation is difficult, but we have already started
saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct message hours
after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince with additional
medical reinforcements.
Later that night, he reported that
Cuban doctors and ELAM’s Haitian graduates were being deployed
throughout the country.
They had already seen more than 1,000
patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately establishing and putting
into operation a hospital that had not collapsed and using field
hospitals where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set
up other centers for emergency care.
We feel a wholesome pride for the
cooperation that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and young
Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are offering our brothers and
sisters in Haiti!
Fidel Castro
Ruz
January 14, 2009
8:25 p.m.
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