TWO days ago, at almost six o’clock in the
evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical
location, night had already fallen in Haiti,
television stations began to broadcast the news that
a violent earthquake – measuring 7.3 on the Richter
scale – had severely struck Port-au-Prince. The
seismic phenomenon originated from a tectonic fault
located in the sea just 15 kilometers from the
Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population
inhabit fragile homes built of adobe and mud.
The news continued almost without interruption
for hours. There was no footage, but it was
confirmed that many public buildings, hospitals,
schools and more solidly-constructed facilities were
reported collapsed. I have read that an earthquake
of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the energy
released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.
Tragic descriptions were transmitted. Wounded
people in the streets were crying out for medical
help, surrounded by ruins under which their
relatives were buried. No one, however, was able to
broadcast a single image for several hours.
The news took all of us by surprise. Many of us
have frequently heard about hurricanes and severe
flooding in Haiti, but were not aware of the fact
that this neighboring country ran the risk of a
massive earthquake. It has come to light on this
occasion that 200 years ago, a massive earthquake
similarly affected this city, which would have been
the home of just a few thousand inhabitants at that
time.
At midnight, there was still no mention of an
approximate figure in terms of victims. High-ranking
United Nations officials and several heads of
government discussed the moving events and announced
that they would send emergency brigades to help.
Given that MINUSTAH (United Stabilization Mission in
Haiti) troops are deployed there – UN forces from
various countries – some defense ministers were
talking about possible casualties among their
personnel.
It was only yesterday, Wednesday morning, when
the sad news began to arrive of enormous human
losses among the population, and even institutions
such as the United Nations mentioned that some of
their buildings in that country had collapsed
a word that does not say
anything in itself but could mean a lot.
For hours, increasingly more traumatic news
continued to arrive about the situation in this
sister nation. Figures related to the number of
fatal victims were discussed, which fluctuated,
according to various versions, between 30,000 and
100,000. The images are devastating; it is evident
that the catastrophic event has been given
widespread coverage around the world, and many
governments, sincerely moved by the disaster, are
making efforts to cooperate according to their
resources.
The tragedy has genuinely moved a significant
number of people, particularly those in which that
quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have
stopped to consider why Haiti is such a poor
country. Why does almost 50% of its population
depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why
not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its
current situation and this enormous suffering as
well?
The most curious aspect of this story is that no
one has said a single word to recall the fact that
Haiti was the first country in which 400,000
Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose
up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar
and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first
great social revolution in our hemisphere. Pages of
insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon’s
most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is
the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of
more than one century of the employment of its human
resources in the toughest forms of work, of military
interventions and the extraction of its natural
resources.
This historic oversight would not be so serious
if it were not for the real fact that Haiti
constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world
where the exploitation and pillage of the vast
majority of the planet’s inhabitants prevails.
Billions of people in Latin American, Africa and
Asia are suffering similar shortages although
perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of Haiti.
Situations like that of that country should not
exist in any part of the planet, where tens of
thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or
worse conditions, by virtue of an unjust
international economic and political order imposed
on the world. The world population is not only
threatened by natural disasters such as that of
Haiti, which is a just a pallid shadow of what could
take place in the planet as a result of climate
change, which really was the object of ridicule,
derision, and deception in Copenhagen.
It is only just to say to all the countries and
institutions that have lost citizens or personnel
because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not
doubt that in this case, the greatest effort will be
made to save human lives and alleviate the pain of
this long-suffering people. We cannot blame them for
the natural phenomenon that has taken place there,
even if we do not agree with the policy adopted with
Haiti.
But I have to express the opinion that it is now
time to look for real and lasting solutions for that
sister nation.
In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba
– despite being a poor and blockaded country – has
been cooperating with the Haitian people for many
years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are
offering their services free of charge to the
Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in
227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand,
at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors
in our homeland. They will now work with the
reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday
to save lives in this critical situation. Thus,
without any special effort being made, up to 1,000
doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized,
almost all of whom are already there willing to
cooperate with any other state that wishes to save
the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the
injured.
Another significant number of young Haitians are
currently studying medicine in Cuba.
We are also cooperating with the Haitian people
in other areas within our reach. However, there can
be no other form of cooperation worthy of being
described as such than fighting in the field of
ideas and political action in order to put an end to
the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of
nations such as Haiti.
The head of our medical brigade reported: "The
situation is difficult, but we have already started
saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct
message hours after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince
with additional medical reinforcements.
Later that night, he reported that Cuban doctors
and ELAM’s Haitian graduates were being deployed
throughout the country. They had already seen more
than 1,000 patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately
establishing and putting into operation a hospital
that had not collapsed and using field hospitals
where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set
up other centers for emergency care.
We feel a wholesome pride for the cooperation
that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and
young Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are
offering our brothers and sisters in Haiti!
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 14, 2009
8:25 p.m.
