DOWNSIDE OF THE NDC CONGRESS

Kofi Portuphy, Newly Elected Chairman of NDC

By Ekow Mensah

Party congresses present a platform for demonstrating enthusiastic support and show casing the achievements of the party especially if it happens to be the Congress of a ruling party.

The NDC congress held in Kumasi over the week-end was meant to be such a platform but unfortunately, Ivor Greenstreet, General Secretary of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) did not feel compelled to stick to protocol.

He let fly accusations right, left and centre and managed to mal an elaborately orchestrated congress to the pleasure of opponents of the Government.

Not even Kwabena Agyapong, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the largest opposition party could equal the tantrums of Ivor Greenstreet.

Greenstreet accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of failing to keep its promise of building a better Ghana.

He said “no one feels the better Ghana” which was promised by President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC.

According to Greenstreet, the worse part of it all is that the Government and the NDC “do not care” about their failures.

The controversy that the Greenstreet’s “solidarity message” has generated is  not about to die soon.

An NDC communicator, Samuel George has not helped matters by commenting that Greenstreet needs an elevation to enable him see the “better Ghana.”

Critics have said that George’s statement is a reference to the physical handicap suffered by Greenstreet as a result of an accident.

Greenstreet moves about in a wheel chair.

Samuel George has denied that his comment is about Greenstreet’s physical handicap but the controversy is raging on the net.

Even some of those who agree fully with the statement made by Greeenstreet say that his choice of forum was unfortunate.

A radio commentator said “what Greenstreet said was true but do you go to your in-law’s funeral to proclaim him foolish even if he is?”

Mr Jerry John Rawlings, founder of the party dropped hints that his wife, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings may be returning to the fold of the NDC.

The question however is, on what condition will Nana Konadu rejoin the NDC?

The speculation is that she may be offered the position of Vice Presidential candidate in a deal which will be hammered primarily between President Mahama and Mr Rawlings.

There is also open talk of the sharing of ministerial and other positions between supporters of the Rawlingses who congregated in the National Democratic Party (NDP) and President Mahama.

The casualties of this marriage can only be perceived loyalists of former President John Evans Atta Mills and those in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who have made a career out of the Akufo-Addo-Rawlings flirtations.

The most important issues waiting to be addressed by the new leadership of the NDC and its government are how to revive the national economy and restore regular power supply.

President Mahama has promised that his government will deliver on its promises and the people of Ghana are anxiously waiting for the signs of good times ahead.

Editorial

CONGRESS IS OVER!

The much talked about congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is now over with the election of a new leadership for the party.

Before, during and after the Congress, it was clear that the focus of the vast majority of members is the wining of the 2016 national elections.

Party members believe that whoever was elected at the congress has something to contribute to the victory of the NDC in 2016.

The Insight would like to point out that the task facing the party is not an easy one and that it will require a clear vision and hard work to perform.

The NDC cannot win the 2016 elections if it fails to provide regular supply of electricity and water to the people.

The state of the national economy in which all major means of production and distribution are in the hands of foreign multi-national companies is a threat to the victory of the party.

If the NDC is to win the next elections, then it must do far better than it has done so far.

This is the truth!

CUBA

Vice President Amissah Arthur

Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, will deliver, the key-note address at a special ceremony to mark the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ghana and Cuba in Accra today, Monday 23rd December.

The event is scheduled to start at 6:00pm at the Accra International Conference Centre.

Other speakers will be the Foreign Minister of Ghana, Cuba’s Ambassador to Ghana and Comrade Kwesi Pratt. Jnr, a member of the Cuban Solidarity Campaign.

The event is taking place only a few days after the release of the last three of the Cuban Five from prisons in the United States of America.

In announcing the release, President Obama said the US wants to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Ghana has been at the forefront of the campaign for the release of the Cuban Five and the lifting of the blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States of America.

Two years ago, President John Mahama joined 2,000 Ghanaians from all walks of life to sign a petition calling for the release of the Cuban Five and the lifting of the Blockade on Cuba.

The late President John Evans Atta Mills also fired a letter to President Obama demanding the release of the Cuban Five and calling for an end to the blockade.

Ghana and Cuba became the axis of resistance against apartheid in South Africa.

This collaboration led to the deployment of Cuban internationalist forces in Angola.

Cuba co-operates with Ghana in the fields of health, education and at all levels of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Cuban Ambassador to Ghana is expected to pay glowing tribute to Ghana for her solidarity with the Cuban people.

Vice President Amisah-Arthur will call for deepening relations between Cuba and Ghana.

Portuphy Sweeps The Polls

By Christian Kpesese

National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation, Mr Kofi Portuphy has emerged the newly elected National Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the just ended 8th National delegates congress of the party held in Kumasi.

He pulled a total of 2,413 out of the total ballot cast to beat rivals Mr Dan Abodakpi and incumbent Dr Kwabena Agyei who pulled 610 and 392 respectively.

Mr Huudu Yahaya one of the major aspirants for the chairmanship race however pulled out at the 11th hour with no reason given.

3,600 delegates from 217 constituencies in the ten regions of the country were expected to vote

Incumbent General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia retained his seat with 2685 votes to beat his only challenger Mr Ishaq Farakhan who got 606 votes.

Mr Kofi Adams won the National Organiser position with a landslide victory. He pulled 2,547 votes against the incumbent Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan who had 743 votes.

Mr Solomon Nkansah pulled 1, 528 to beat his closest rival Mr Kobby Fiagbe who pulled 1, 440 to emerge as the National Propaganda Secretary (now Communications Officer). The third contender Mr Nii Dodoo Dodoo had 308 votes.

Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo had 517 to emerge the new first National Vice Chairman, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu got 401, Mr Lee Ocran had 286, Madam Anita Desosso got 372, Mr Harry Zakour had 374 and Mr Said Sinare had 347 of the total votes cast.

Mr. Koku Anyodoho had a vote of 2337 to become the new deputy general secretary of the NDC. George Lawson the incumbent retained his position also with 1389.

Over 10, 000 participants including 3, 600 delegates were officially accredited for the 8th National Delegates Congress.

The newly elected Chairman in his victory remarks expressed appreciation to all members of the party for contributing to a successful congress saying “this congress will go down as one of the best congress ever organized by the NDC.

An elated Kofi Portuphy said “on behalf of my colleagues we would like to express our gratitude to the outgone Chairman Dr Kwabena Adjei and all other executives. This dawn marks our journey to 2016. It begins now. I want to assure all and sundry especially the unsung heroes of our party, the foot soldiers, Our hard working grassroots. We shall bring all of you on to the part of unity,

 “We shall ensure that we work for unity, 2016 is our goal. We will be available day and night. You don’t need lamps to look for us in the night. It is victory for the NDC and all of us. We will deliver with your support,” he stated. 

Time for an Nkrumaist revival in Ghana

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah

By Zaya Yeebo

It seems that it is the NDC, not the CPP which is the party of choice for progressive forces in Ghana, but that can change with a merger of pro-Nkrumaists forces.

During the 105^th Anniversary celebrations of the birth of the Founder of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, I looked up at his statue, his hand stretched out, almost reaching out to Africa. I wanted to ask him one simple question: “Why did you leave us so early”? It is the sort of question a child who loses a parent will ask. This is also not an honest question because I also know that he was forced to leave Ghana and Africa to the wolves of imperialism, and its local predators, acting at the behest of their foreign masters.

To understand my love and gratitude to the Osagyefo, I must provide a brief explanation. At the time of the February 24, 1966 coup, I was in what was then called elementary school. But most important of all I had just joined the Young Pioneers. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown on a Thursday, the very day we were to meet and collect our Young Pioneer Uniforms from Sekondi Takoradi. It was never to be. Worse was to come. A week following the coup, a teacher whom I knew to be anti- CPP called out all the names of members of the Young Pioneers, paraded us before a school assembly and called us “Nkrumah’s dogs”. We were caned for simply being members of the Young Pioneers. That week, my father was also arrested for being a CPP member.

The 2014 celebration of the 105^th birthday anniversary celebration of Ghana’s founding father has once more reignited and re-awakened the ghost of anti-Nkrumaists sentiments in Ghana and elsewhere. Some genuine, for ideological reasons, some just following their (western) masters’ voice. Some have even suggested that the ideas of Kwame Nkrumah are irrelevant to our current needs. Recently, someone went as far as to suggest that all Nkrumaists are lazy intellectually.

Since the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, Ghana has been coerced to follow the IMF path of development like lap dogs, kneeling, begging, supplicating, what have you? Yet no one dares suggests that the IMF is irrelevant to our needs. In fact, we have gone begging again with known apologists for imperialism leading the pack. To suggest that the ideas of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah are archaic today is to suggest that all theorists of political science – Karl Marx, Marx Weber, Adam Smith, etc., are also irrelevant. After all, Nkrumah was not just a political leader and founder of today’s Ghana, but a leading political theorist, writing many books of relevance. Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah himself once uttered the following prophetic words: “As far as I am concerned, I am in the knowledge that death can never extinguish the torch I have lit in Ghana and Africa. Long after I am dead and gone, the light will continue to burn and be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to all people.” It still does.

Sometime this year, the Daily Graphic reported that, “The Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ms Samia Yaba Nkrumah, has declared her willingness to step down to ensure merger talks between the CPP and the People’s National Convention (PNC) become a reality”. This, she said, “will send the right signals to the rank and file of both parties that she is ready to ensure a united Nkrumaist party”. This will be welcome news to genuine Nkrumaists and those who would like to see a new type of politics. Talk of a merger of Nkrumaists parties is always exciting, but it also carries a lot of doubts whether it will lead to a reconfiguring of the current political alignments. It also sends shivers down the spine of the anti-Nlkrumaist forces in Ghana and the west.

Political mergers of this sort should be for strategic reasons. I do not believe that political parties should take advantage of infighting in other parties to make an inroad into electoral politics. It will be short lived. However salivating the talk of a merger between the CPP and the PNC, some realities beg for answers. Truth is both parties have only three parliamentarians between them (PNC-2, and CPP-1). So in terms of numbers at the parliamentary level, these two parties will hardly make a dent in current political alignments. Secondly, this seems to be a merger at the level of the leadership of both parties. To what extent are the grassroots members of both parties involved in the merger debate, and therefore committed to a new party structure?

Most important of all, the significance of this merger will also depend largely on some political realities. In the first place, both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) occupy the centre right formations. This could be contentious since the NDC describes itself as a party with “social democratic” credentials.  Ideologically therefore the ‘left’ of centre is open for grabs. Secondly, the power base of both parties is crucial to the success of a merging Nkrumaists party. The NPP’s power base remains the Ashanti and Eastern regions, and among some conservative sections of the Akan ethnic groups in the country. However it is beginning to make serious in roads into some traditional seats of the NDC in the Upper East region. The election of Mr. Paul Afoko as Chairman of the NPP, and Dr. Mahamdu Bawumina as Honourable Akuffo Addo’s running mate, will help the NPP make further inroads into traditional NDC/CPP strongholds in the North. This is likely to bring some dividends to the NPP, but affect the NDC’s fortunes in 2016.

On the other hand, the NDC originally had its power base in the Northern and Volta region and other minority groups in the country, but is also drawing support from both the rural and urban poor because of its history. Attempts by the middle class to hijack the party and push away the cadres are proving difficult. The NDC’s radical roots remain its most positive selling point to the masses, but an Achilles heel to western donors. The PNC also draws its support from the Upper East and Upper West regions mainly because of its founder, the late President Dr. Hilla Limann. In spite of many efforts, I would suggest that the PNC has failed to develop a national character, this making it a fringe party of convenience. The PNC is like an orphan, since the two large parties have occupied the centre right and continue to dominate national politics. In spite of its lack of parliamentarians, the CPP remains the only genuine ‘third force’ in Ghanaian politics today. The defection of Honourable Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum to the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) is not a significant blow to the CPP.

Unlike the NDC or NPP, the CPP today lacks a recognisable power base. This is historical. The pre-1966 CPP had a message that resonated with ordinary workers, farmers, youth, women and the ‘down trodden’. Kwame Nkrumah’s charisma drove the CPP as a mass party; his ideological pursuits formed its core values, while his Pan Africanist agenda gave it a global reach.

Today, without the leader – Kwame Nkrumah, the CPP is orphaned. More than that, it does not have Nkrumaists or people who actually believe in the organisational strategies and political vision that the Osagyefo had for this country.  The party’s failure to reclaim its historical radical roots will be its undoing.  It is easy to reject Nkrumaism, but what are they replacing it with?  Mr. Justus Henaku, a member of the CPP describes his party (the CPP) today as ‘cloned NPP’. I have my doubts about this description, but it seems to make some sense. In today’s personality based politics, the party can claim to have a Ms. Samia Nkrumah as its claim to fame. However, it is not attracting enough progressive forces. It seems that the NDC remains the party of choice for progressive forces in Ghana today.

There is no doubt that Ghana is littered with Nkrumaists political formations. These include the CPP, the PNC, Dr. Ndoum’s Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) and if I may suggest, the ruling NDC. A merger of all Nkrumaists parties will therefore bring some new impetus and energy into electoral politics in Ghana. However, the emergence of this new progressive formation will require some political gerrymandering of social and political forces, and recognition that the Busia-Danquah group remains the most formidable obstacle to the revival of the Nkrumaists agenda in Ghana today. 

On its part, the CPP must reclaim its lost constituency of workers, rural and urban workers, the unemployed and the under privileged in Ghanaian society. The NDC must be willing to cede some grounds to the CPP, and commit itself to an alliance with progressive sections of the NDC.  In spite of the efforts of the NDC administration under President John Mahama, there is sense of total indifference to the plight of the poor in Ghana. One does not have to be a socialist to see the plight of innocent children on the streets, collapsing schools and lack of affordable health care dating back to the Jerry Rawling’s era. An alliance of progressive forces with the NDC as the leader might help reclaim Ghana for its people.

Today, Ghana is awash with foreign sharks, mostly western, but also Chinese. Some of these establishments have  developed a habit of deliberating abusing Ghanaian hospitality, ignoring the social needs of workers, and getting away with it. The CPP’s anti-GMO campaign is in the right direction. It needs to do more of this.  This is what made the CPP the party of choice. This nation is in need of repair, and the CPP, with the support of progressive sections of the NDC and the PNC, can provide this.

Ms. Samia Nkrumah needs to be as courageous as her father, and reclaim Ghana by working with those who believe in her father’s vision. There is no doubt that the current NDC has some Nkrumaists inclinations, and must be called back home. That also means a merged CPP-PNC should also fight to reclaim those supporters of Kwame Nkrumah now in the NDC and in the wider left movement. This merger can even consider joining the NDC in an electoral alliance of some sort, to consign the Danquah-Busia bandwagon to the dustbin of history, difficult as it may be.  Nkrumaists can no longer wait for the NDC to implode for Nkrumaists to return.

An alliance of Nkrumaist parties will be an electoral power house.  A future alliance of PNC-CPP-NDC is a strategy for national renewal, a return to the golden days of the two party state: Kwame Nkrumah versus Busia-Danquah. My generation had expectations for a genuinely independent, free Ghana.  A Ghana that looked after its own. That vision is threatened by recklessness, hypocrisy and greed.  But there is hope for a genuine Nklrumaists revival. The parties have to be bold. The time is now.

Zaya Yeebo

Upper West Region records 158 neonatal deaths

Kwaku Agyemang Mensah, Health Minister

The  Upper West Region has for the last three years,  recorded 158 neonatal deaths, a situation stakeholders have to tackle seriously to help reduce  neonatal mortality, Dr Abdulai Forgor, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services has said.

He said statistics showed that neonatal deaths contributed about 40 per cent to children less than five years’ deaths in Ghana, indicating that children less than five years deaths had reduced, but the corresponding declined in neonatal mortality had been quite small.

Children less than five years death rate has reduced to 80 per cent per 1000 live births in Ghana, Ghana Demographic Health Survey of 2008 has revealed.

Dr Forgor made these known at a regional forum to deliberate on Newborn Care involving key stakeholders to support in the fight against new born deaths in the Region.

The forum provided an opportunity for stakeholders to combine efforts to achieving the Millennium Development Goal Four of improving child health and targets reduction of children less than five years deaths by two-thirds by 2015.

He explained that newborn care is the medical, surgical, socio-cultural interventions which ensure the survival or otherwise of the human newborn from birth to 28 days of life.

The newborn period is categorised into three phases, which include: early neonatal up, from birth to seven days after delivery, late neonatal seven days to 28 days after delivery and perinatal which span from 28 weeks of pregnancy to seven days post-delivery.

He explained that newborn survival interventions must cover antenatal coverage, visit of antenatal mothers for the full package before delivery, intermittent preventive treatment, anaemia prevention in pregnancy, skilled delivery, and care for low birth weights still birth rate and, exclusive breastfeeding among others.

Dr. Forgor said about75 per cent of the newborn deaths were in the first week of life and up to 50 per cent of newborns death occurs on the first day of life.

He classified neonatal into direct and indirect causes and mentioned birth asphyxia, prematurity and low birth weight, infections and congenital defects as direct causes while poor quality of antenatal, unskilled attention at birth, maternal conditions, such as malaria, HIV/AIDs, sexually transmitted infections, week health systems and family and community factors as indirect causes.

Dr. Forgor said the current challenges that confronted newborn care interventions had been poor documentation of infants’ deaths, especially neonatal deaths in the health facilities and community level to inform actual burden of newborn mortality.

He mentioned cultural norms in relation to who could see the neonate and when he could be sent “outside” to meet strangers and the difficulties in accurate recording of early neonatal deaths in the communities, neonates not provided with names and therefore no funerals and the reluctance among families to discuss issues about them, as some of the challenges Poor road network and transportation difficulties, inadequate equipment for neonatal care, poor staff attitude and low capacity of staff in neonatal care, inadequate community sensitisation, home visits and the involvement of other stakeholders in ensuring the provision of timely care to pregnant women and newborns were impacting negatively on newborn survival.

Dr. Forgor however said with support from government and development partners, the region was implementing some interventions to address the challenges of capacity building for midwives and community health nurses in safe motherhood clinical skills and essential newborn care.

Equipment had also been distributed to health facilities conducting basic emergency obstetric care, establishment of neonatal intensive care unit, auditing of all neonatal deaths and implementation of audit recommendations and advocacy on good neonatal care practice especially cord care had improved.

These notwithstanding, Dr. Forgor said there were still gaps in newborn care with respect to essential newborn equipment at the regional and district hospitals levels, capacity building of community volunteers to support newborn care activities at the community level.

Dr. Mohammed Musheibu Alfa, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister said the government and regional coordinating council were committed to quality health care for the people.

He said government was working hard to provide more health facilities in the communities and improve access roads to open the communities to health facilities for quality healthcare delivery for pregnant and nursing mothers to benefit from the free maternal healthcare services.

GNA 

ECG to be privatised by next July

Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy

The Government is considering its options towards the privatisation of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by the middle of next year.

Mr Frank Ocran, Chairman of the Stakeholders Consultation Committee on Energy, who announced this in Accra said the move this follows Ghana’s qualification to receive $500 million under the Compact 2 of the Millennium Development Account to help turn the energy sector around.

Mr Ocran was addressing a meeting of stakeholders held for the media to solicit views on the two options the government intended to choose from: concession and partial privatisation.

Under the Concession, the state would enter into a long-term contract: 20 – 30 years with the private partner, where the private partner would have the exclusive right to operate, maintain and carry out investments in ECG for a defined number of years.

The private partner would have the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of all assets and investment during the period.

The state would retain full ownership of ECG as the asset holding company; at the end of the concession period, control of ECG reverts to the state unless GoG decides to extend or re-tender the concession.

Partial privatization would involve the sale of ECG’s shares to a strategic investor with the proven technical, financial capacity and track record in utilities similar in size to ECG to carry out electricity distribution and supply activities. 

The sale of shares would either be by; the government selling some of the existing shares in the company that is being partially privatised; or the company itself issuing new shares to the investors, thereby diluting the government’s shareholding in the company or a combination of both these options. 

Mr Ocran said the challenges facing the energy sector were enormous and the government could no longer inject capital into ECG.

Therefore, he said, private sector participation was requisite in the running of ECG. 

Mr Ocran said the ECG had not been sold to any private entity.

The compact two has six key areas; ECG financial and operational turn-around project, NEDCo financial and operational turn-around project, regulatory strengthening and capacity building project, access project, power generation sector improvement project, energy efficiency and demand side management project. 

He explained that the company’s assets would still be owned by the government under the arrangement. 

Mr Ocran explained that Ghana loses about two percent to five of GDP annually as a result of lost economic output due to the insufficient and unreliable power supply.

ECG had also recently been suffering from both operational and net income losses, he said.

This means it is not in a position to fund its much-needed capital investment program of 10.8 billion Ghana cedis over 25 years. This represents an annual average of over 400 million Ghana cedis in real terms, he added.

Mr Mawunyo Rubson, Power Expert, Millennium Development Authority, said the signing of the compact was not forced on the government.

Mr Sulemana Abubakari, Deputy Director, Power Distribution said: “We have not signed a contract yet, we are soliciting views to take a decision and there will be international competitive bidding. 

GNA

 

THE HEROIC CUBAN FIVE.

By Kofi Henaku

It came as a relief that the over 5 long decade moribund policy of the United State of America, a giant nuclear super power with a population of over 350 million has had to be jettisoned and consigned to the dustbin of history for the normalization of relations with Cuba a tiny little island but  a heroic country of 11 million people. This is indeed a great victory for a people who fought heroically to liberate their country from Spanish colonization and won their second liberation from American imperialism on 1st January 1959. This second liberation was backed and supported by the progressive forces of the world including the then socialist bloc led by the U.S.S.R, the newly liberated countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America including the non-Aligned Movement which Ghana played a prominent role especially the support given by the Tri-continental conference held in Havana.

Now can we equate the 5 heroic intelligence officers from Cuba who infiltrated the bandit and terrorist organizations of rightwing Cuban exiles in Miami, Florida to supply information which thwarted a lot of terrorist plots against the Cuban people. Those brave men defended their motherland from these evil exiles and were arrested and unjustly jailed by the Yankee imperialist.

However Mr. Gross and the other American spy infiltrated into Cuba to subvert this peaceful country which is striving to survive against an economic blockade  imposed on it for over 50 years by the U.S which has also refused to hand over a piece of the Cuban territory called Guantanamo back to Cuba and occupied it for over 110 years. It is the hope of the Insight newspaper, that the normalization of relations would help  reduce tension in the area, and that the nefarious blockade which the U.S Imposed on Tiny Cuba and has utterly failed and has also been extended to third country trade with Cuba would end and help human to human contact between the American and Cuban people.

Cuba should also beware of subversion as this might be a Trojan Horse as it is still a bastion of principle, freedom and socialist practice and a beacon to all freedom loving people of the world. Little Cuba has come out victorious, the Yankee Goliath, bully and imperialist has come  crashing down to earth and  must bow down its head in shame. Long live the Cuban revolution.

Cuba overjoyed

The Cuban people describe their reactions to the two great events of the day, year and century: the return to the country of three Cuban heroes who were previously incarcerated in U.S. prisons, and the announcement of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S.

Joy, excitement, euphoria, tears, optimism, expectation, surprise. Words can not describe how the Cuban people feel. More than 50 years have passed since the severing of diplomatic relations with the United States and the establishment of the unjust economic blockade; and 16 since the incarceration of the five Cuban heroes, thus the national reaction to the yesterday’s news was one of delight and absolute joy.

In the street everyone is talking, and their words are excited and chaotic like their emotions.

Germán Menéndez, I.T technician said: “I think this is the result of the pressure exerted by the many Latin American associations: CARICOM, MERCOSUR, CELAC, UNASUR united in support of Cuba’s case. We are happy, extremely happy because at last we have done it, the Five are in their country, with their families, and we are full of hope and faith that our economic future will change.”

Liliana Álvarez, agreed that Latin American integration was essential, in addition to the entire campaign led by movements in solidarity with the Cuban heroes and Cuba, and the struggle of this courageous and resilient people for so many years. “I feel indescribable joy because I am here and I am part of this,” she stated, and with emotion taking over and tears welling in her eyes exclaimed, “Comandante en Jefe, we did it!”

“This is the best news so far this century. The return of the Five has been long awaited, suffered by Cubans and many people outside the continent. There are emotions which words can’t express. What we Cubans are feeling and experiencing today can only be understood by those here and abroad who have lived it with us. This is the best Christmas present for a call which had become universal,” commented José Antonio Pérez, foreign trade management expert.

“It is the first time a U.S. President, after more than 50 years of a blockade policy and hostile, reactionary positions against Cuba, has officially expressed his will and intention to restore diplomatic relations, and most importantly without having to cede our dignity. I think the exchange, and new regulations to come, will be very beneficial for the Cuban people,” stated Gretel Chinea, communications expert.

“I and many others didn’t believe we would live to see this. We are surprised because although we knew that conversations were taking place and attempts being made by the Cuban and U.S. government to exchange prisoners, we never imagined it would happen now, so suddenly, we always thought that this tragedy would continue,” said Rubén Pérez Landaburo.

“What we had been hoping for a long time has finally happened. Now we are in a state of shock, this has a strong psychological impact on all Cubans because it has been years of waiting, uncertainty, tension between Cuba and the U.S. and now everything seems like it is going to change, at least the speeches by the Cuban and U.S. Presidents fill us with optimism.” Randy Pérez, bank employee, commented.

Rodolfo Laborde Parla, telecommunications technician stated that he is happy, but skeptical, noting that “the Five are now home, this is a significant achievement, but with respect to the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the U.S. - we will have to wait and see if they really do prosper in a climate of equality of conditions. But yes, we are all happy, surprised and expectant.”

Other people, such as Marcelo Caballero Rodríguez from Matanzas, expressed that it was a nice gesture from Obama. The pensioner also emphasized, “Something very exciting has happened, which we also owe to the people of the U.S. and many other people and solidarity leaders of the world.”

“Cuba is experiencing a moment of glory and great joy. This December 17 will mark an important chapter in the history of the homeland and the memory of these anti-terrorist fighters,” emphasized Physical Culture graduate José Luis Gómez, who in reference to the blockade, added, “This has been a wise decision. Cubans don’t deserve to have this punishment prolonged any further.”

THE FIVE ARE FINALLY HOME

Just like in a workshop where Camilo Díaz Armentero, director of the Ciego de Ávila Graphic Base Business Unit works; as among letters and books in the case of philologist, Donna González Dobaño, Cubans experienced intense emotions this Tuesday.

For the young man, born in 1990, a difficult decade for the Cuban Revolution and who has since birth, suffered many of the scarcities caused by the U.S. economic blockade imposed against Cuba, it is logical that the news of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the countries, as well as the release of the three Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, would be of great significance to him. “It is now up to the U.S. government to fulfill all that President Barack Obama announced, for the good of the people of Cuba and the U.S.”

Camilo said he was greatly excited by the return of Gerardo, Ramón and Tony, and that the promise Fidel made in 2001 has been fulfilled.

Employees at the Palco Hotel stopped their work and gathered in the lobby to hear President Raúl Castro´s speech.

“We are very happy!” said Susel Martínez, customer service specialist, to Granma. “Here we have followed the case of the Five and now that we will have them all home again we can feel satisfied, we have been waiting for this for a long time,” adding, “This is the best end of year present we could wish for, a great end to 2014.”

Fernando Guerrero, the hotel’s chef, commented that “we are happy because they have returned, as Fidel promised they would. We believe that it is one more achievement of the Revolution, first, because they decided to free the three heroes and second, because diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. are being restored, although there are many rough edges that need to be smoothed out in this regard.”

For her part, Nerelys Marín, head of reception, expressed, “Although we know that our government and people have spent many years trying to secure their return, knowing that they are here has come as a great surprise.”

Hotel manager Fernando Álvarez commented that, on the whole, employees “received the news with much enthusiasm, even when the news had already arrived, the elation was immense after hearing it announced by our President.”

Félix Rojas Vigó from the city of Guaso described the release of Antonio, Gerardo and Ramón, and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the U.S. as the news of the year in Cuba, and possibly the world. “16 years of the unjust imprisonment of these young men is finally over, these men who did nothing more than defend the people of Cuba and the U.S. against terrorism.”

“I am certain that this is the most important decision adopted by a U.S. president in regards to Cuba since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959. Obama’s courage must be acknowledged. Well, we know the pressure he is under.”

“It is true that the problem of the economic, commercial and financial blockade - which has caused so much harm to the Cuban people - has still not been resolved, but we are hopeful that sooner or later it will be eliminated, given its anachronism and, as the latest events show, the bilateral dialogue currently underway is smoothing the way towards this objective, without compromising our independence and sovereignty.”

Máximo Nápoles Vega a pensioner from Guantanamo stated to Granma that Gerardo, Ramón and Tony, together with René and Fernando, have a special place in the heart of all Cubans, for their example of heroism, resistance in the face of any test, and loyalty to the homeland.

The same reason for which in the center of the Island, in Villa Clara, Adelmar Cedeño´s family, one of the many in Cuba, gathered to listen to the announcement afterwards coming together in an interminable embrace.

The same love was shown by students from the JuanCarlosRodríguezElementary School, also located in Villa Clara, who came out to the plaza to rejoice, holding hands and accompanied by five Cuban flags.

Why are you all so happy? Asked Granma, to which the pionero Enmanuel Rodríguez replied: “Eh, who said you had to be big to feel Cuban.”

EU TAKES HISTORIC POSITION

Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President

The Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Ghana, His Excellency Abdalfatah A. K. Alsattari says the position taken by the European Parliament is quite historic to his country – Palestine.

“We know that this is just a step in a new page that has been opened and that page would culminate in the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is what the votes symbolize. The huge gap between the those who voted in favour of Palestine even collaborates the facts on the ground”.

His Excellency, Abdalfatah A. K. Alsattari also said, “Initially the international community was not holding Israel responsible for such excesses until now.  Everyone knows that Israel has lost its legitimacy both in terms of politics and morality. Even the United States of America whose umbilical cord is tied to Israel knows that this current state of affairs is untenable. So this Israeli government has been censored, sanctioned and criticized by various American officials”.

Ambassador Abdalfatah A. K. Alsattari made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Insight Newspaper on December 18^th 2014, a day after the European Parliament massively voted to recognise the State of Palestine.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Q : What is the general situation in Palestine today?

A : The condition of the Palestinian people since West Bank and Gaza Strip were occupied in 1963, that condition has not changed profoundly. Ever since, wars after wars have been waged by Israel against the Palestinian people, women and children are being killed and Palestinians are arrested and detained arbitrarily. All these criminal activities affect and hurt the peace process.

The Palestinian people continue to strive to defend themselves from the excesses of the Israeli government. In that arena, I believe that we have made a lot of achievements. But those achievements have come at a very high price. Our people are resolute. They don’t mind paying that price in order to have their freedom.

Q : The European Union General Court has decided to remove Hamas from its list of terrorist organisations. How do the Palestinian people feel about this development?

A : first of all, we thank Ghana for all that it’s doing for the Palestinian people. We thank His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, the government of Ghana, the Ghanaian people and all those who are so dear to us. The people of Ghana have always stood on our side on all international platforms. These gallant steps that have been taken by the Ghanaian people is well appreciated by the Palestinian people.

The position that was taken by the European Union parliament yesterday is part of a ground swell level of global conviction that the Palestinian people are collectively defending themselves and it is the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves.

What is happening does not give any political space for the Palestinian people and the options for the Palestinian people are limited. They have to defend themselves. The Palestinian people would use all avenues to protect themselves. These particular votes from the European parliament also mean that the European people are beginning to realize that Israel is an occupying nation.

Q : What is the current level of cooperation between the Republic of Ghana and the State of Palestine?

A : First of all, the bilateral ties between the people of Ghana and Palestinian people are very old and very good. Our officials in our the Foreign Affairs Ministry  are continuously having meetings with their Ghanaian counterparts on how to deepen the relations. Only this week, I had an order from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the State of Palestine to meet some officials in Ghana. All these are in attempts to deepen the relations between our two countries in all areas.

The specific areas would include the economy and the potential areas for investments as well as the issues of health. After the festive session, I would do well to meet the Ghanaian officials to kick start these projects. There is a huge interest within the Palestinian government especially President Mahmoud Abbas to consolidate the relations with the republic of Ghana. The directives from President Mahmoud Abbas are clear. Everybody knows the role of Ghana as a continental player and this is very important to us as Palestinians and to President Mahmoud Abbas in particular.

Q : Many countries including Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and others are pushing for the recognition of the State of Palestine. What does this mean to the State of Palestine, Africa and the World at large?

A ; The votes we have seen across various European parliaments are clarifying few realities. First of all, this is a strong conviction that Israel is illegally occupying the state of Palestine. Historically the facts are there and people are beginning to realize them. The European parliaments by these votes also understand that there need to be a termination of this occupation and when you look at the geopolitics of the world, this is one of the illegal occupations of one State which is not armed. This recognition has come from no less than a place but Europe. In terms of practicing democracy, European countries seem to be doing more than most other countries in the world. And the fact that public opinion about the Palestinian issue is drifting towards the Palestinian people also points to something.

The posture of the Israeli government over the past few years has been one of pro settlements, encouraging people to settle places belonging to the Palestinian people and the Israeli government has also been very supportive of extremists groups. The whole world is realizing this and isolating Israel as a result of the price in blood that has been paid by our people in the recent Gaza Strip and West Bank and other parts of Palestine. And many buildings were demolished with their roofs collapsing on the heads of their inhabitants. The world is also taking the current drastic steps because of the gruesome live images they saw on televisions during the Gaza killings.

The European countries and others are also realizing that the continuous break - ins into the Aqsa Mosque by Israeli army and the fact that even Christian Rabbis have being humiliated in front of the Holy Church. So that tells you that everybody understand that these excesses could not happen without the backings of the Netanyahu government.

Initially the international community was not holding Israel responsible for such excesses until now.  Everyone knows that Israel has lost its legitimacy both in terms of politics and morality. Even the United States of America whose umbilical cord is tied to Israel knows that this current state of affairs is untenable. So this Israeli government has been censored, sanctioned and criticized by various American officials.

The position taken by Europe is quite historic for us and that is meant to rid the Palestinian people from terrorism of the Israeli army. We know that this is just a step in a new page that has been opened and that page would culminate in the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is what the votes symbolize. The huge gap between the those who voted in favour of Palestine even collaborates the facts on the ground.

For us, this reflects the natural phenomenon. If Europe is joining the caravan, it is simply  because of the Israeli excesses and aggressions and that the Palestinian people have the right to establish their state.

Q : what is the state of the Palestinian prisoners and negotiations for their release?

A : Since 1967, never have the Israeli prison regime taken a breadth for a moment without from making captives of the Palestinian people. Ever since those prisons were established there have always been filled with Palestinians. You cannot count a single household in Palestine except that one or two  of these three things has happened – either a relative has been killed, a relative has been imprisoned or someone is a casualty from Israeli attacks. Currently the number of Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails stands at about seven thousand (7000). There are Palestinians who are also being detained in Israeli prisons without trial.

 About 19 are women, about 250 are children. Some of the Palestinian prisoners are as young as six (6) years old. There are 32 parliamentarians that have been arrested and detained without trial by Israel. There are about 30 of the Palestinian prisoners who have unlawfully been in Israeli jails for over 25 years. This is the sad state and the conditions that the people of Palestine have found themselves in because they want to establish an independent State.

Q : What is the major pre-occupation of President Mahmoud Abbas as he leads the Palestinian people in this time of the struggle?

A : First of all, the only thing President Mahmoud Abbas seeks for his people is freedom without any occupation and without weapons to terrify them. President Mahmoud Abbas wants Palestinian people to see smiles on the faces of their children just as other people see smiles on faces of their children across the world. The President wants a Palestinian woman to wake up in the morning and be able to establish a family and also contribute to a community in peace and in stability and away from Israeli bombardments and killings.

His Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas is expending a lot of effort in that regards. He would go to the United Nations Security Council with another resolution in a bid to get freedom for the Palestinian people.

Q ; Excellency, what is your final message to the people of Ghana?

A : first of all, we wish the Ghanaian people the very best. I am still new as an Ambassador into this country. I have spent about three months and what I have seen in Ghana is an eye opener. I see women and men work, and I have seen women work at all levels and young people are also working. So that they would build this country. I am very proud of this country.

What we are asking from all the people of the world, we are asking the same from the Ghanaian people. We want everybody to stand on our side and God willing, we are in the dying moments of our struggle for liberations. So that we would be liberated from occupation and we are in the last few moments of that struggle.

We call on everyone to stand by us so that we can end the occupation and stop the bloodshed. All religions forbid killings and we are a people of peace. We have a conviction that only someone who is not sane both in terms of body and intellect that would resort to murder.

We are proud of the Ghanaian people. We thank the Ghanaian people for their historic stands and supports for the people of Palestine. The Great Yasser Arafat was a friend to Ghana and the Ghanaian people and Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas is also a friend to the Ghanaian people.

The country’s heart is full

President Raul Catro with Gerardo, Ramon & Antonio

Cuba opens its arms to Gerardo, Ramón and Antonio, welcoming them home with human warmth and sincere affection.

The Cuban sky, which they had so longed to see, offered the first welcome to our heroes, then the breeze, the feeling of freedom… hard for their eyes to believe what was unfolding before them, hard for their hearts to bear so much joy, to see the radiant, euphoric people opening their arms to their sons, and offering them a cup of coffee. Eleven million tears were shed as the news was announced, and the photos began to appear, with Raúl welcoming them to the homeland.

Who didn’t feel goosebumps along with Elizabeth as she embraced Ramón. Who was not moved as Gerardo gazed into Adriana’s face, and who did not feel the warmth shared by Mirta and her son Tony… And what an avalanche of emotions hearing the exclamations, including, “Para lo que sea”, (For whatever may be needed), offering an exemplary lesson of genuine patriotism.

Outside, in the streets, a sea of human beings welcomed them home, every corner of the nation was full of joy. Feeling the country’s greatness, it is no lie that Cubans feel our hearts swelling.

Imperialism and the Ruble Crisis. “Economic Warfare”

President Vladimir Putin

By Alex Lantier

The plunge of the Russian currency this week is the drastic outcome of policies implemented by the major imperialist powers to force Russia to submit to American and European imperialism’s neo-colonial restructuring of Eurasia. Punishing the Putin regime’s interference with their plans for regime change in countries such as Ukraine and Syria, the NATO powers are financially strangling Russia.

The sanctions imposed by the United States in response to Russian opposition to last February’s coup in Kiev have amounted to economic warfare. Over the past four months, the value of the Russian ruble has plunged by more than 50 percent. On Tuesday, as the ruble fell 10 percent against the dollar in one day, US President Barack Obama indicated he would sign a bill imposing even harsher sanctions on Russia and allowing Washington to directly arm the far-right, pro-NATO regime in Ukraine.

When Lieutenant-General Mikhail Mizintsev voiced the Russian Defense Ministry’s “concerns over the significant increase of NATO military activity near Russian borders,” Pentagon officials replied that NATO would keep building up its “air, land and sea presence” around Russia.

Yesterday, editorials appeared in several major newspapers warning that Russia’s currency crisis would not abate until Moscow bowed to the Kiev regime and abandoned support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. “The depth of the currency’s slide,” wrote London’s Financial Times, “reflects the growing belief in financial markets that Mr. Putin no longer runs Russia in its economic interests and is instead bent on pursuing illusory geopolitical goals.” NATO, it added, “should leave him in no doubt that de-escalation in Ukraine will reduce international pressure on the Russian economy. The hope must be that, even now, Mr. Putin is in a mood to change course.”

The New York Times wrote:

“The sensible thing for Mr. Putin to do would be to withdraw from Ukraine. This would bring immediate relief from sanctions, and that would ease the current crisis and give officials room to start fixing the country’s economic problems. The question is whether this reckless leader has been sufficiently chastened to change course.”

Were Russia to accept the US-NATO diktat, its surrender would simply set the stage for further demands, whose ultimate outcome would be the actual breakup of the country.

The catastrophic consequences of the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 and the restoration of capitalism are all too clear. Russia, the size of its military and its oil reserves notwithstanding, is being forced to accept a position as a semi-colonial appendage of finance capital, to be crushed if it crosses its imperialist masters.

The banks are tightening the financial noose around Russia’s neck. Anders Aslund of the Petersen Institute for International Economics wrote that, since Washington imposed sanctions on Russia in July, “Russia has received no significant international financing—not even from Chinese state banks—because everybody is afraid of US financial regulators.”

Cut off from international credit, Russia is being strangled by the financial parasites on Wall Street and their European counterparts. By Aslund’s calculations, Russia—with liquid currency reserves of roughly $200 billion, a net capital outflow this year of $125 billion, and total foreign debts of $600 billion—could be brought to its knees in as little as two years.

While there are a host of global economic factors underlying the fall in oil prices, it is unquestionable that a major role in the commodity’s staggering plunge is Washington’s collaboration with OPEC and the Saudi monarchs in Riyadh to boost production and increase the glut on world oil markets.

As Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis last March, the Guardian wrote, “Angered by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Saudis turned on the oil taps, driving down the global price of crude until it reached $20 a barrel (in today’s prices) in the mid-1980s… [Today] the Saudis might be up for such a move—which would also boost global growth—in order to punish Putin over his support for the Assad regime in Syria. Has Washington floated this idea with Riyadh? It would be a surprise if it hasn’t.”

Since then, with OPEC declining to cut production despite an accelerating fall in prices, oil has dropped to under $60 a barrel.

These developments expose the absurdity of claims, advanced by innumerable middle-class pseudo left organizations, that Russia is an imperialist power. Such arguments simply ignore the historical context within which imperialism emerged and which persists in the existing structure of world finance and international geopolitics. The dissolution of the USSR represented a capitulation to imperialism, not the entry of the “new” Russia into the ranks of ruling imperialist powers.

As Trotsky explained in 1929:

“The struggle for world domination has assumed titanic proportions. The phases of this struggle are played out upon the bones of the weak and backward nations. A capitalist Russia could not now occupy even the third-rate position to which czarist Russia was predestined by the course of the world war. Russian capitalism today would be a dependent, semi-colonial capitalism without any prospects. Russia Number 2 would occupy a position somewhere between Russia Number 1 and India. The Soviet system, with its nationalized industry and monopoly of foreign trade, in spite of all its contradictions and difficulties, is a protective system for the economic and cultural independence of the country.”

In the final stages of the dissolution of the USSR, the Soviet bureaucracy and the academic intelligentsia haughtily dismissed the Marxist analysis of imperialism as they embraced Gorbachev’s “New Thinking.” In the event, the ensuing social retrogression and subordination to imperialism have substantiated Trotsky’s warnings. Ex-Soviet republics dissolved into ethnic civil war, from the Russian war in Chechnya to the current war in Ukraine. Industrial life collapsed and economic production fell by approximately 40 percent over the next decade, as state factories were bought up and looted by criminal business oligarchs and foreign banks at fire-sale prices.

While the economic collapse halted in the 2000s and Russian capitalism rebuilt itself around oil and gas exports, dominated by a clique of business oligarchs around President Vladimir Putin, the bankruptcy of Russian society was admitted to even by its rulers.

In his 2009 “Go Russia” speech, then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev confessed: “Twenty years of tumultuous change has not spared our country from its humiliating dependence on raw materials. Our current economy still reflects the major flaw in the Soviet system: it largely ignores individual needs. With a few exceptions, domestic business does not invent nor create the necessary things and technology that people need. We sell things we have not produced, raw materials or imported goods. Finished products produced in Russia are largely plagued by their extremely low competitiveness.”

The ruble’s collapse and the aggressive policy of imperialism today are again bringing to the fore the bankruptcy of Russian capitalism. Prices in rubles for food and consumer goods are expected to skyrocket, impoverishing masses of people, since Russia still depends on imported manufactured goods and agricultural inputs for domestic food production.

As for Russia’s ruling clique, it is in a hopeless quandary. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that US sanctions aim to achieve regime change in Russia. Based on the experience of other oil-rich countries targeted for regime change by Washington, from Iraq to Libya, this means the Kremlin believes that NATO seeks the destruction of the Russian government, the murder of its top officials, and the plundering of Russian oil by Western corporations.

Even in this desperate situation, however, the Kremlin slavishly limits itself to policies that are acceptable to the Russian plutocracy, whose wealth is based on the plundering of state assets. It even seek to avoid such essential defensive measures as imposing currency controls or freezing payments to foreign banks.

Putin’s stoking up of Russian nationalism—as in his praise for czarist General Aleksei Brusilov’s “legendary” offensive at the beginning of World War I and his recent denunciation of the Bolsheviks as traitors to Imperial Russia—is utterly reactionary. If the Kremlin relies on its military strength and opts for confrontation with NATO, what looms is the risk of a nuclear war that would destroy the planet.

There is no national solution to the Russian crisis. The capitalist oligarchy itself is the greatest obstacle to the defense of the Russian working class against imperialism. The central task facing the working class in Russia is re-establishing its links with the traditions of the October Revolution and Trotsky’s struggle against Stalinism.

There is no means to halt the plunder of Russia and the drive towards war except through the politically conscious intervention of the international working class, which is hostile to both imperialist militarism and the maneuvers of the Kremlin. This is why the International Committee of the Fourth International insists upon the necessity of building an international anti-war, anti-imperialist movement of the working class, fighting for world socialist revolution.

World Socialist Website

Fidel Castro’s Legacy

Commandante Fidel Castro

By Stephen Lendman

At age 88, he’s Cuba’s elder statesman. A legend in his own time and then some. Defying critics. Outwitting them. Outliving them. 

This article a snapshot of some of his achievements. Impressive by any standard.

On the 50th anniversary of his July 26, 1953 Fort Moncada attack, media scoundrels pronounced his revolution dead.

Expected collapse. Predicted free market capitalism’s return. The bad old days called good. More on Cuba under Castro below.

A previous article discussed America’s master plan for world dominance. Key is eliminating all sovereign independent governments.

By political, economic or military means. Installing puppet regimes. Convenient stooges. Subservient to Washington.

Few nations challenge US policies successfully. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz bested 10 US administrations. From Eisenhower through George Bush.

From January 1, 1959. When his guerrilla force ousted US-backed Fulgencio Batista. To his February 2008 retirement announcement as Cuba’s president.

Remaining Communist Party Central Committee First Secretary until April 2011. In the interim, transforming Cuba from a repressive brothel to a populist state. Defying US imperialism successfully.

America ruled Cuba as a virtual colony. From President McKinley’s so-called “liberat(ion)” from Spain. To Castro’s successful 1959 revolution. A transformational event.

Other than America’s Guantanamo footprint. Ceded through Platt Amendment chicanery. Granting Washington “complete jurisdiction and control.” At the same time recognizing Cuban sovereignty.

For nearly half a century, Castro’s achievements were remarkable. In spite of America’s embargo. In place since October 1960.

For all products except food and medicines. In February 1962, extended to include nearly all imports. Currently enforced by six statutes:

(1) The 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act

(2) 1961 Foreign Assistance Act

(3) 1963 Cuba Assets Control Regulations

(4) 1992 Cuban Democracy Act (encouraging pro-opposition groups)

(5) 1996 Helms-Burton Act (hardening earlier legislation)

(6) 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (authorizing sale of humanitarian products)

Despite longstanding embargo, blockade conditions weren’t imposed. Except in 1962. Under short-term missile crisis conditions. Preventing missiles from arriving.

Early-on, Castro made a clean break with predatory capitalism. Nationalizing US-controlled industries. Instituted land reform.

Shuttered Mafia-owned casinos and brothels. Ended longstanding systemic corruption. Built a socialist state. Ended Cuban control by monied interests.

Essential social services remain one of his most important achievements. Article 50 of Cuba’s Constitution mandates “the right to health protection and care” for everyone.

By “providing free medical and hospital care by means of the installations of the rural medical service network, polyclinics, hospitals, preventative and specialized treatment centers.

(F)ree dental care. Promoting the health publicity campaigns, health education, regular medical examinations, general vaccination and other measures to prevent the outbreak of disease.

All the population cooperates in these activities and plans through the social and mass organizations.”

Article 51 guarantees free universal education. At all levels. To children, youths and adults. Constitutional language states:

“Everybody has a right to education. This right is guaranteed by the extensive and free system of schools, part-time boarding schools, boarding schools and scholarships in all types and at all levels of education, by the free provision of school materials to every child and young person regardless of the economic situation of the family, and by the provision of courses suited to the student’s aptitude, the requirements of society and the needs of economic and social development.”

Castro virtually eliminated illiteracy. Students learn math, reading, the sciences, arts, humanities, social responsibility, civics and participatory citizenship.

Giving them skills to become more productive citizens. Able to contribute to national development.

Despite embargo conditions, Cubans get nutritious food at affordable prices. Cuba’s Law Number 49 mandated government provided social services.

Including special help for Cuba’s elderly, disabled, others unable to work and single mothers.

Cuba’s Public Health Law mandates protecting the health of all citizens. Including those rehabilitating from physical or mental disabilities.

Its healthcare is among the world’s best. Including an extensive system of family doctors. Sophisticated tertiary care facilities.

Emphasis on nutrition and preventive care. Cuba’s low infant mortality rate bests America’s. Matches its life expectancy.

Has double the number of physicians per 1,000. An overall lower mortality rate. No one lacks care because of affordability. Polar opposite America’s “pay or die system,” according to Ralph Nader.

Maintains the developing world’s most extensive infant immunization coverage. Emphasizes chemical-free, non-GMO, organically grown fresh produce.

Delivers top quality healthcare at minimum cost. Compared to America’s exorbitant system. Double the cost of other developed countries.

Leaving millions uninsured. Despite claims otherwise. Millions more underinsured. One major illness for many away from bankruptcy.

Impossible in Cuba. With top quality universal care for all. No one denied what’s needed.

Key are hundreds of community-based polyclinics. Serving tens of thousands of Cubans. Organizational hubs. For neighborhood-based family doctor/nurse offices.

Accredited research and teaching centers. For medical, nursing, and allied health sciences students.

Backbone of Cuba’s health system. Shaming America’s for millions of its most disadvantaged.

Most Cuban doctors practice general medicine. Mandated for most medical graduates. Later able to specialize.

Polyclinic care largely replicates what’s available in hospitals.

Services include x-rays, ultrasound, optometry, ophthalmology, endoscopy, thrombolysis, emergency services, traumatology, clinical lab services, family planning, emergency dentistry, pre and postnatal child care, immunization, diabetic and elderly care, as well as rehab.

Other specialties include dermatology, psychiatry, psychology, cardiology, family and internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology, mouth disease, acupuncture, message therapy, electromagnetic therapy, mud therapy, reflex therapy, heat therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, and more.

Quality care is stressed at all times. So is patient satisfaction. Cuba considers healthcare a human right.

America provides it on the ability to pay. Commodified for profit. Insurers, drug giants, and large hospital chains make policy.

Cuba has state responsibility for healthcare. Assuring availability for all. Regardless of financial well-being. How all systems should be run.

Its physicians complete a nine-year program. Including five years of basic education. One-year hospital internship.

Three rural practice years. Family medicine stressed. So is preventive care. Doctors wanting to specialize must complete three more years of training.

Abide by Cuba’s model health code in treating patients. Exclude private practice. Follow government policies.

Emphasize prevention and human welfare. Work for national wellness.

Profit is America’s only goal. Other objectives are secondary. Cuba spends a minute fraction per capita annually. Compared to what healthcare costs in America.

It sends thousands of doctors to dozens of countries needing them. Offers free medical education to thousands of students.

From scores of countries. In return for providing their people Cuban-style care. Largely in under-served communities.

Its model shames America’s. It works because it’s fair. A testimony to Fidel’s legacy.

Along with high-quality free education. Other vital social services. Ones Americans can’t even imagine.

Source: Global Research