“Solidarity is not abstract. It is tangible & life-saving”
By Tariq Anderson, Cuba Solidarity Campaign
At Cuba Solidarity Campaign’s (CSC) recent fringe meeting at TUC Congress, Cuban Ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter stressed that the “profound economic crisis” her country is grappling with is one “that manifests not in abstract economic indicators, but in the tangible struggles of Cuban families.”
The increasingly suffocating application of the blockade affects all areas of Cuban life and have led to devastating shortages – from food to fuel. But it is perhaps in the field of health where its cruel impact can be seen most clearly. “For decades, our public healthcare system has been a beacon for the world”, the Ambassador said, “Yet today, this system is under unprecedented attack.”
These attacks mean that many of the 450 children diagnosed with cancer each year in Cuba are forced to go without the ideal medicines, as Cuba is unable to purchase them from US companies or their subsidiaries. It also means that Cuba’s infant mortality rate – for a long time one of the lowest in the hemisphere – rose from 5.0 to 7.5 per thousand live births in the space of just three years. Not just an abstract indicator, this represents an unnecessary increase in preventable deaths and suffering.
With the blockade, in the words of the Ambassador, “actively working to reverse our [Cuba’s] social progress”, the Cuba Vive Medical Aid appeal was launched in 2024 to send life-saving medical aid and equipment to Cuba. The appeal was born from a UNISON North West delegation to the province of Matanzas where, in meetings with UNISON’s sister health union and visits to hospitals, the extent of the shortages were laid bare.
The appeal has since raised nearly £200,000, with support from across the trade union movement. UNISON, Unite, NEU, ASLEF, POA, FBU and Equity are all supporting the appeal, alongside nine UNISON regions and many more branches up and down the country. During CSC’s fringe meeting at TUC, CSC chair and former joint-general secretary of the NEU Kevin Courtney, announced that the union had agreed an amazing £25,000 donation to the appeal.
This solidarity is making a real difference in Cuba. By partnering with a charity based in Yorkshire, the appeal has been able to send vital aid worth in excess of £1 million to Cuba in four 40-ft shipping containers. This includes catheters, tracheostomy equipment, syringes and needles, colostomy bags, operating theatre supplies and much more, which is already in use in hospitals across the island. Another container is scheduled to depart in November this year.
At Labour Party Conference, CSC is hosting a rally and fundraiser in support of the Cuba Vive appeal. As well as raising much needed funds, we’ll be celebrating Cuba’s commitment to sharing the gains of its revolution in health beyond its borders.
Since 1959, around 500,000 Cuban healthcare workers have travelled to all parts of the globe, responding to medical emergencies, disasters and sharing their knowledge to help develop health systems in the global south.
Cuban medical brigades were responsible for treating an astonishing 73% of the victims of the Kashmir earthquake in 2006. And while richer nations prevaricated, some 5,000 Cuban medics put themselves forward to travel to West Africa at the height of the Ebola crisis in 2014. It became the biggest single provider of healthcare workers to tackle the outbreak. “Cuba has provided the numbers and the people,” said Jose Luis Di Fabio of the World Health Organisation (WHO). “There are more human resources from Cuba than from many, many NGOs organisations put together.”
Today, there are more than 24,000 Cuban healthcare workers providing services abroad as part of solidarity missions. However, this medical internationalism is now under attack as part of Trump’s renewed assault on the island.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that diplomats, officials, and any individual and their family members would face visa restrictions and other sanctions if they had any association with these humanitarian programmes. Leaders of CARICOM countries were quick to condemn the measure, which would sanction them for using Cuban doctors and nurses in their health systems.
“Does anyone expect that, because I want to keep my (US) visa, I’m going to let 60 poor, working-class people die? That will never happen,” said Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where Cuban doctors working at the country’s Medical and Diagnostic Centre save lives every day.
As the Ambassador made clear at TUC Congress, “your solidarity is not abstract. It is tangible and life-saving” and the Cuba Vive appeal “is a perfect embodiment of this practical support.” Join us in Liverpool to support the appeal, to celebrate Cuba’s remarkable contributions to the health of the world and demand an end to the blockade.
- The Hands Off Cuba Rally and Fundraiser is taking place on Sunday 28 September at the Casa Bar, 29 Hope St, L1 9BP from 5.30pm. You can find out more here.
- Follow the Cuba Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
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