by Sarah Standefer, WAMM

"Cuba Si! Blockade No!" was the chant of over 4000 delegates from 116 countries to the second World Conference of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba in Havana, November 11 through 14, 2000. The largest contingent, which included 150 Cuban American supporters, came from the U.S. I traveled to Cuba with Phyllis Cohen and Elmer Zoff. We were part of the 80-member International Action Center delegation.

The second World Conference occurred in the midst of media attention on Cuba because of several events. The U.S. Congress had just authorized sales of food to Cuba but also had barred the federal government and U.S. banks from financing the shipments that would make these sales possible. In the same bill, Congress strengthened the travel ban on U.S. citizens to Cuba.

Just the week before the conference, the UN General Assembly voted 167 to 3 to lift the blockade against Cuba. The U.S., Israel, and the Marshall Islands (currently seeking economic assistance from the U.S.) voted no.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez had just signed an oil trade agreement with Cuba which will greatly relieve the shortages caused by the blockade. And, at the time of the conference, Posada Carriles, a notorious anti-Cuban terrorist, was arrested for attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama in early November.

Finally, the results of the vote in Florida, and specifically in Dade County (home of 500,000 Cuban Americans), were unknown. Fidel Castro, in his 4-1/2 hour informative and engrossing speech, said that on every election day hundreds of Cubans rise from the dead and vote. He offered to send Cuban youth, who are very involved in Cuban elections, to help with the vote count.

The 40-year U.S. blockade of Cuba is the longest we have ever imposed. Six out of ten Cubans were born after it began. The blockade increases the cost of everything by about fifteen percent. It causes shortages of the most basic necessities: food, medicines (the U.S. controls 75 percent of all antibiotics), fuel, and materials for production. The blockade costs Cuba the loss of its most important and closest market for trade. And, since the revolution, the U.S. has been responsible for many terrorist acts against Cuba.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent loss of economic support led to severe and well-known hardship in Cuba. At the same time, the U.S. tightened the blockade. However, not one Cuban lost her/his job, all citizens had food (although the average daily calorie intake fell), and not one hospital or school was closed. This time is called the "Special Period" and its economic free-fall hit bottom in 1994, the time of the first Solidarity Conference.

Defying the odds, and the predictions of much of the world, Cuba not only survived but thrives. All measures of quality of life continue to improve. Fundamental to this success is the principle that human capital is the most important capital. The specific actions taken to improve life include effective economic measures, the development of tourism (which increased by fifteen percent last year), the discovery and development of natural gas fields, and carefully negotiated venture projects with primarily European companies. Because the population has participated in making and implementing these decisions, dissatisfaction has been minimized. Inequities have occurred--particularly in the tourist industry--but new economic remedies have already begun to "make the less equal more equal."

Cuba's health-care system is renowned worldwide. We saw this when we visited a large psychiatric hospital. The buildings were airy and pleasant and the grounds expansive and lovely. The grounds included a baseball stadium, several ball fields, and a track. We saw a dance class, a group playing volleyball, an exercise class, and we were regaled by musicians who were also patients.

There was a nurse for every eight patients. The patients are treated with dignity and given the opportunity to contribute and be of use. Each patient works according to her/his capability, making pillow covers or rugs, running the beauty shop, or tending the gardens.All are paid and thus able to contribute to the family income.

The patients are treated with dignity and given the opportunity to contribute and be of use. Everyone works according to his/her capability. In the pillow-cover and rugmaking room, some could only pull threads off pieces of fabric and some were doing sophisticated sewing. The patients run the beauty shop and tend the beautiful flower gardens. All are paid and thus able to contribute to the family income. Finally, we were entertained by musicians, several of whom had obviously been professionals. The performance ended in a sing-along which had the Spanish-speaking delegates on their feet. Despite the devastation of mental illness, these performers still have the opportunity to entertain and delight their audiences.

Cuba also gives generously to the world. Presently, over 2000 health-care professionals deliver care to tens of thousands of people in Third World countries. Cuba has recently opened an International School of Medicine with capacity for 10,000 medical students from all over the world to study free of charge. The only string attached is they must return to their own country to practice medicine.

The Cuba solidarity movement is also vibrant, active, and committed. The number of groups has tripled since 1994. This second World Conference proposed ten actions, including a worldwide solidarity day on October 10 (the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs), a boycott of Bacardi Rum (which is owned by right-wing anti-Castro Cuban Americans), and support for the Pastors for Peace caravan next summer. The delegates represented millions of people around the world who see Cuba as the hope of the world and are telling the U.S. government to "lift the blockade of Cuba now!"

Cuba Resources

International Action Center
39 W 14th Street, Suite 206
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646 (phone)
212-633-2889 (fax)
iacenter@iacenter.org
www.iacenter.org

Resource Center of the Americas
3019 Minnehaha Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-276-0788 (phone)
612-276-0898 (fax)
info@americas.org
www.americas.org

Cuba Solidarity Web Site
www.cubasolidarity.net