Reflections of Fidel

SIGNIFICANT events have taken place in our country lately.

On October 28, at 7:30 am, the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the physical disappearance of Camilo Cienfuegos took place; the sad event occurred one stormy evening as he was traveling in a light aircraft from Camagüey to the capital, along the north of Cuba.

In Yaguajay, he had fought his last victorious battle against the dictatorship at the end of December 1958. A mausoleum was inaugurated there, where the remains of those who died during the war in the Las Villas Northern Front or after January 1st 1959 have been laid to rest; they will later be joined by those of the Invading Column or those connected with it in the center of the island and who are still alive. Someone called him the Hero of Yaguajay and the title remained. But he was more than that: he was the Hero of the Antonio Maceo Invading Column. The brave commander was advancing with his light column towards Pinar del Rio, and he would have reached its mountains if he had not received an order from the Sierra Maestra to stay in the center of the island and fight there with Che under his command. It was not necessary to put him at risk in that mission which was an incorrect interpretation of the historic circumstances. On January 2, he embarked on the historic march to the capital with Che. There is so much to research and to reflect on that event!

Following a decision by the Party and the government, as of this 50th Anniversary his steel silhouette shines together with that of the Heroic Guerrilla (Che) in the Plaza de la Revolución, standing guard before the statue of Our National Hero Jose Marti.

Also on October 28, at nine o’clock in the morning, as fate would have it, the debate began on the resolution presented by Cuba against the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on our country by the United States. We heard moving words from the representatives of numerous Third World countries that gave testimony to their appreciation of the indomitable and supportive country that for half a century has faced the ruthless and genocidal empire which arose in the vicinity of our island. A large number of countries felt that Cuba’s resistance was a struggle for their own right to sovereignty.

The unobtrusive and supportive work of our people from the first years of the Revolution, and its heroic resistance despite the United States’ cruel blockade, was not forgotten by the overwhelming majority of the 192 sovereign states of the world.

The irrefutable arguments of our Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez thundered throughout that hall in the very heart of New York, and very close to Wall Street.

For the first time in many years of debates, all of the member states of the United States took part in the discussion of this thorny and compromising issue.

Even the European NATO allies and the developed, consumerist and rich countries that make up the European Community felt obliged to express their disagreement with the economic blockade of Cuba. Our foreign minister gave a vigorous reply to the justifying and plaintive remarks of the US representative.

When the president of the Assembly proceeded to the vote, only three delegations of the 192 states present voted against the Cuban resolution: the United States; its ally in the Palestinian holocaust, Israel, and the island of Palau. A U.S. lawyer with Israeli citizenship who represents Palau — a territory covering 450 square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean that spent nearly 50 years under the Yankee administration — voted for the United States at the UN. Two states abstained and 187 condemned the blockade.

However, as fate would have it, these were not the only two significant events for the Cuban people that day. That evening marked the end of the visit to our homeland by Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), accompanied by Mirta Roses, director of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). The two women represent the two most important international organizations responsible for this crucial task. Last Tuesday October 27, I had the honor of meeting with them.

Since the issue of the A H1N1 influenza epidemic is of such great interest to every nation, especially those of the Third World — which have been the most affected by the consequences of exploitation and pillage — I asked them to make space in their tight schedule to have this meeting.

Despite the concern and efforts of our ministry of Public Health and its information programs intended for our people, I felt it would be in our interests to delve deeper into the subject of the epidemic.

Public health was one of the reasons that a revolution was necessary in Cuba. It is not my intention to demonstrate the progress made, which has secured our position as the country with the largest number of doctors per capita in the world – an example of what can be done by other nations – despite being a nation that has been blockaded and attacked by the powerful empire for half a century. Our homeland was not just the victim of a brain drain, but also the target of biological attacks by the U.S. government which were not just limited to using viruses and bacteria on plants and animals but also against the population itself. Dengue fever affected more than 300,000 people and Serotype No. 2 was introduced in Cuba and the hemisphere when it was not present as an epidemic in any other country.

Leaving aside many other details in the name of brevity, suffice it to remember in this "Reflection" that dengue is transmitted by mosquitoes, but the Influenza A H1N1 virus spreads much more easily and directly through the respiratory tract.

Our people should know that at the end of World War I, an influenza epidemic took the lives of tens of millions of people at a time when the population of the planet hardly exceeded 1.5 billion. Humanity had much less scientific and technical resources available at that time than today.

This reality, however, should not lead us to be overconfident. When epidemics of this kind break out, resources are required to prevent or combat them — as was the case with yellow fever, polio, tetanus and others — such as the vaccines that for years have protected children and the population at large from numerous extremely harmful diseases.

Today, there are also other types of vaccines, especially those protecting the population from various flu viruses, which are given to those cases who are at greater risk because of permanent or temporary causes.

Our people should be aware that it is more difficult to have vaccines against certain viruses because of their genetic mutations, as is the case of those related to the A H1N1 flu and others.

The most developed and rich countries possess sophisticated and costly laboratories. Despite underdevelopment and the yanki blockade, Cuba itself had been able to establish several laboratories for the production of vaccines and medicines.

In the international arena, there is a logical fear of the aforementioned flu, given its dissemination capacity and the effects on certain more vulnerable individuals. Aside from the aspects related to the international cooperation provided by our doctors, who have given Cuba tremendous moral authority and prestige, I was interested in analyzing the issue of the A H1N1 epidemic with the director general of the WHO. She confirmed to me that the difficulty with the vaccine is that laboratories with the capacity to produce them in Europe, the United States and Canada are turning out a much lower volume of vaccines than required; there was great demand in the developed nations and the first vaccines will not be available to other countries until the end of the year; at the same time, the prices are increasing considerably. She has included Cuba as a priority country because of our international cooperation and ability to immediately apply the vaccines to priority individuals through our hospital network.

Dr. Chan knows that wherever the Cuban doctors are, they will cooperate in the speedy vaccination of the people.

This is obviously positive news for our people. However, we must bear in mind certain circumstances.

It will take several weeks or perhaps two or three months for the first vaccines to reach us.

The major concern of the WHO is that the mutation capacity of the virus may rapidly overtake the effect of the vaccine and it would then be necessary to begin the search for an effective vaccine over again. This, in my opinion, determines the importance of an adequate network of medical services such as the one that exists in our country, and of the systematic orientation of a highly-educated population in order to secure its cooperation with the relevant measures.

The lack of adequate medical services in many countries, including the United States where nearly 50 million people do not have access to medical care, raises the number of potential victims considerably. That country has declared a state of health emergency. Two days ago, I listened to a report that between November and March the A H1N1 flu could be the cause of 90,000 deaths in the United States given that winter favors the development of the epidemic. I sincerely hope that such estimates are wrong and there is no such damage. With a population that is at least 27 times that of Cuba, it would be the equivalent of over 3,000 deaths in our country, and many millions of people around the world, in spite of the scientific breakthroughs.

The initial symptoms of the A H1N1 virus appeared in Mexico in the first quarter of this year and almost simultaneously in the United States and Canada. From there, it moved on to Spain, one of the first European countries where the epidemic spread.

When the current U.S. president lifted the restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to Cuba, the epidemic had already spread throughout many states of the union. Thus, the four countries that generate the most tourism or visits to our country for other reasons were precisely those where the epidemic had spread.

The first carriers of the virus in Cuba were travelers from overseas. Relatively few people were infected in our country and for months, there were no virus-related deaths. But as the virus spread to every province, principally those with a higher number of relatives in the United States, it became necessary to acquire new laboratory equipment for the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute and multiply our efforts while still fighting dengue fever.

And so, we were faced with the strange situation that, on the one hand, the United States authorized travel for the largest number of virus carriers while, on the other, it prohibits the acquisition of equipment and medicine to combat the epidemic. Of course, I don’t think that was the intention of the U.S. government but it is the reality resulting from the absurd and shameful blockade imposed on our people.

With the equipment purchased elsewhere we are in a position to establish, with absolute precision, the total number of people affected by the epidemic and those whose death may be related to the presence of the virus.

Fortunately, in addition to the services and highly-qualified medical personnel in our country, on the international market there is an antiviral medication that is particularly effective when taken by individuals with unmistakable symptoms of the virus and those providing direct care to them.

We have that antiviral medication at our disposal and also the necessary raw materials to continue producing a similar amount to that which is already available, and we shall spare no effort in ensuring we have the necessary doses.

Even if many countries fail to provide the international agencies with the relevant information about the epidemic, for lack of networks of services and medical personnel, we know that our government is determined to communicate with absolute accuracy to such agencies the number of cases and deaths related to the epidemic, as we have always done with the public health data of Cuba.

Fortunately, our country has an extensive network of healthcare services; the possibility of providing immediate care to those affected is real and we also have a sufficient number of highly-qualified doctors, many of whom have undertaken honorable and unforgettable internationalist missions.