PUBLISHED: Letter of the Day | Cuba heals, America sneers at unhealthy poor

Dennis Minott, PhD | Cuba heals, America sneers at unhealthy poor

Published: Friday | March 7, 2025 | 12:05 AM

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I write in appreciation of Norris McDonald’s column, ‘Cuba, America, and the health crisis: A tale of two systems’. His analysis was a breath of fresh air.

For decades, Cuba has been a beacon of medical solidarity, sending doctors and nurses to the most underserved communities across the Global South. In Jamaica alone, thousands have benefited from their expertise, including myself. Cuban doctors at Port Antonio and Annotto Bay hospitals were instrumental in my survival, and I had previously witnessed their selfless work from the Caribbean to Ethiopia and Mexico. Their mission is rooted in the simple yet revolutionary principle that healthcare is a human right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

McDonald aptly highlighted, the United States – despite its crumbling, profit-driven healthcare system – continues to undermine these medical lifelines. The latest disgrace comes from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sought to brand Cuba’s humanitarian missions as ‘forced labour’. This grotesque ‘liadness’ is not just an insult; it is an act of calculated cruelty. It seeks to criminalise the very doctors who heal the most vulnerable while protecting the interests of pharmaceutical conglomerates that profit from disease and desperation.

What makes this even more shameful is the silent complicity of certain Jamaican elites, whose servility to Washington outweighs any loyalty to the health and well-being of our own people. They parrot the imperialist script, pretending that US sanctions on Cuba are about ‘human rights’ when, in reality, they are a vicious form of economic warfare designed to strangle a sovereign nation that dares to prioritise public welfare over corporate greed and general billioneering.

McDonald’s piece exposed these double standards, holding a mirror to America’s own failing healthcare system – one where dysentery spreads among the homeless in Oregon, bird flu drives egg prices beyond the reach of the poor, and millions remain uninsured. If there is any ‘forced labour’ in the medical world, it is in the US, where doctors and nurses are shackled to debt while patients must choose between life-saving care and financial ruin.

Jamaica must not cower in the face of Washington’s intimidation. History will judge us harshly if we allow spineless sycophants to sever our ties with a nation whose doctors have saved countless Jamaican lives. Cuba’s medical missions are a gift to humanity, and as McDonald reminds us, it is time we defend them with the full force of our moral conviction.

by DENNIS MINOTT, PhD