English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
All the hospitals I’ve visited lately have put up some eye-catching posters: “Your health service is free, but it costs.” I’ve seen these relating to ophthalmology, surgery, orthopedics, dentistry, and I recently saw a generic one for the Institutes. Then they enumerated a list of services, from the simplest and least inexpensive to complex procedures … Continue reading “It Costs / Regina Coyula”
HAVANA, Cuba. — The manipulation by the official press has no limits. The report published in the Granma daily on March 17 by journalist Diana Ferreiro carries a grandiose headline: “White Scrubs for a Better World.” In said article, it went so far as to say that the seventh delegation of Cuban doctors that left … Continue reading “Desertion by Doctor Ramona Matos Opens a Breach / Osmar Laffita Rojas / HemosOido”
Some 18 thousand Cuban doctors in Venezuela earn the government 4 billion dollars. And what about the oil? HAVANA, Cuba – The Cuban regime is on tenterhooks about the situation in Venezuela, whose economic support, primarily through payment for medical services and the supply of oil is very advantageous. Currently there are about 18,000 doctors … Continue reading “What Will Happen if Chavism Falls? / Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique”
In the nineteenth century, slave crews were rented out after the harvest to other landlords, providing the slaves a few trifles. HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 12 — The recent “defection” of Cuban doctor Ramona Matos Rodríguez, who provided services in Brazil under an agreement signed between that country and Cuba, part of the program “More Doctors … Continue reading “Slaves in White Coats / Miriam Celaya”
HAVANA, Cuba, December, www.cubanet.org-It was raining heavily in Havana. It was the first day of December and Miriam Leiva had come to Cuba carrying the ashes of her husband and the memories of their almost 40 years together. Oscar Espinosa Chepe had died after a long illness that they shared together like so many things … Continue reading ““The psychological torture was intense, permanent. They wanted to erase his mind.” / Lilianne Ruiz”
The story circulated recently on the Intranet: a Cuban doctor, a recently graduated anesthesiologist, was sentenced to nothing less than eight years in prison for the sad death of an obstetric patient. I don’t know the anesthesiologist in questions and I’m not completely versed in the details of the case, but I remain a priori … Continue reading “Reponsibility is Not Remunerated / Jeovany J. Vega”
Cuba has serious medical problems at home. There have been cases reported of cholera, tuberculosis and dengue fever — already at epidemic levels — and other illnesses that have not been seen for decades in this country. In towns and cities there is also a disastrous sanitation and epidemiological situation which has been exacerbated by … Continue reading “The Story of the Good Pipe* / Fernando Damaso”
What you see here was once the seal of the centrifuge of our washing machine. A frightening little sound every time we turned it on that announced it was already signing the song of the peanut seller, until more than a month ago it told us, gentlemen I’m retiring, and it expired along with the … Continue reading “We were few and labored… / Jeovany J. Vega”
By Ignacio Estrada Havana, Cuba — Some time ago I listened to a doctor from from Villa Clara narrate her life as a medical aid worker, in the Republic of Venezuela. I listened carefully to each of her stories. Gossip that she perhaps told me in confidence between friends, but the mere fact of the … Continue reading “A True Story That Reveals the Work of the Cooperating Cubans in Venezuela / Ignacio Estrada”
Cholera – also referred to as Asian morbus because of repeated and deadly worldwide pandemics originating in India and China – is the result of colonization of the digestive tract by the Vibrio cholerae bacillus, “a bacteria of the Spirillaceae family, very sensitive to heat and acids, which quickly kill it.” It was discovered in … Continue reading “Rage in the Time of Cholera* / Jeovany Jimenez Vega”
By Jeovany Jiménez Vega I reread the letter from the surgeons from the Havana “Calixto García” Hospital to Raúl Castro, which was published on 20 September by Cubaencuentro anonymous and undated. At the time of posting my previous post on October 1, I didn’t know that on September 28 another digital site, Cubainformación, had published … Continue reading “Necessary Reminder / Jeovany Jimenez Vega #Cuba”
In March 2007 the Attorney General of the Republic replied just once to the first of three applications by two doctors who had been unjustly disqualified. It wasn’t just a technical report issued by a non-political and autonomous body against two citizens who considered their rights had been fundamentally violated, but this retrospective response was … Continue reading “The Turn of the Outraged / Jeovany Jimenez Vega #Cuba”
The National Theatre of Cuba half-opened three of it numerous doors (always closed), with access to its main and older hall, the Avellaneda, to receive the large crowd that crowded together in the entrances and adjacent areas, up until the early hours, to finally attend the concert which was held under the auspices of the … Continue reading “Ironies and Cultural Coincidences / Rebeca Monzo #Cuba”
Open letter from the General Surgery Department of the “Calixto Garcia” Hospital to the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz To be good is the only way to be happy. To be cultured is the only way to be free. … Continue reading “Cuba Surgeons Write to Raul Castro About Disastrous Health Care System”
This week, the official press published a lengthy press release that stated that the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) considered what they referred to as “the outbreak of intestinal infection caused by water pollution” had ended. It lasted for two months in eastern Cuba, leaving three dead and fewer than 500 patients, according to official … Continue reading “Among Conspiracies and Euphemisms… / Miriam Celaya”
