United States Threats Cannot Deter Cubas Internationalist Approach by Ramona Wadi!
(2020-06-22 at 19:47:57 )

United States Threats Cannot Deter Cubas Internationalist Approach by Ramona Wadi!

As the United States continues its defunding of international organisations, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) is next in line, as United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared his countrys funding conditional upon "United States values".

The mismanagement of funds, particularly at United Nations institutions, is a well-known occurrence. However, the corruption existing at international institutions reflects the obscure, or non-existent process, of accountability, which capitalism encourages in order to maintain the monopoly over human rights rhetoric.

Under United States President Donald Trump, pointing out corruption is becoming a veneer under which the United States can manipulate the trajectory of human rights violations. The PAHO has not been singled out for its affiliation to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which Donald Trump recently defunded, but for the organisations role in facilitating the Cuban revolutionary doctors internationalist approach to aiding countries during the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States has intensified its vilification of Cuban doctors - a source of pride for Cuba - as the countrys version of alleged forced labour. A briefing by the United States State Department describes Cuba as facilitating human trafficking. Cuban officials have rejected the United States insinuations, contrasting Donald Trumps mismanagement with the Cuban model of medical practice; the latter efficient enough to cater for both Cubans and countries abroad.

Fidel Castro envisaged healthcare as a human right - a view shared by Argentine revolutionary and medic Ernesto Che Guevara. In his early travels across Latin America in 1951, Ches observations of medical practice and community relations led him to envisage a different system comprising of health awareness and preventive medicine. The Cuban Revolution eliminated all prestige associated with the medical profession, with the best doctors leaving Cuba for the United States. Nevertheless, the model envisaged by Che, which brought medical practice to all parts of the island, has proved successful, to the point that Cubas healthcare system, despite the illegal blockade enforced by the United States on the island, managed to cater not only for the Cuban peoples needs, but also regionally and internationally.

Cubas healthcare system is intricately woven with its internationalist approach. Besides exposing the failings in a capitalist system that contributed to the death toll in Western countries, the world was also offered a glimpse into the Cuban medical model. The medical brigades reached out internationally, while in their country, Cubans benefited from rigorous checks and door to door medical visits, thus illustrating how community relations were integrated into the Cuban approach to medicine. The not-for profit model inspired by the Cuban revolution thrived despite United States efforts to destabilise Cuba economically and politically, partly due to the education system which is also based upon the revolutionary principles of internationalism.

It is worth noting that the United Nations, despite its role in destroying the environment through its promotion of wars and plunder, is now calling for recognition of the "interdependence between humanity and biodiversity", which, as UNESCO Director General Azulay stated, "is so profound that the latters vulnerabilities are our own."

In this regard, Cuba also sets an example. The plunder of natural resources was perpetually referenced by Fidel in his speeches, which regularly emphasised the consequences of war and capitalist economies. Despite the United States sanctions on the island, in 2019 Cuba was declared the most sustainably developed country by anthropologist Dr Jason Hickel.

United States threats, therefore, do have the potential to create the space for additional human rights violations, in particular when it comes to institutions that are dependent upon the same corruption to thrive.

However, Mr. Pompeos posturing also puts the United States in stark contrast with Cuba and its commitment to humanity - a principle which, despite Fidels death, remains ingrained within the islands political and education system.

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