A follow-up to my post of May 13, on Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko” and his take on health care in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Anthony DePalma has an interesting piece about life expectancy rates in Cuba and the U.S. He quotes a Dr. Robert N. Butler:
“I know Americans tend to be skeptical,” [Butler] said, “but health and education are two achievements of the Cuban revolution, and they deserve some credit despite the government’s poor record on human rights.”
One of the questions always begged in these discussions: What constitutes a good education? Does it end with basic literacy? No, it requires an atmosphere of open inquiry and critical thinking, free from fear and censorship. Needless to say, these conditions are completely lacking in Cuba. In other words, everything following the word “despite” in the above quote completely undercuts what comes before it.
As for health care, DePalma cites the view of a Dr. Leonel Cordova, who defected in 1992, shortly after the Soviet collapse. Cuba has two health systems, Cordova argues:
…one is for party officials and foreigners like those Mr. Moore brought to Havana. “It is as good as this one here, with all the resources, the best doctors, the best medicines, and nobody pays a cent,” he said.
But for the 11 million ordinary Cubans, hospitals are often ill equipped and patients “have to bring their own food, soap, sheets — they have to bring everything.”
I’ll withhold definitive judgment until I see Moore’s film. But I would expect a muckraking journalist like him not to gloss over the apparent inequity that Dr. Cordova describes. “I’m not trumpeting Castro or his regime,” Moore says in his defense. We’ll see. If he’s silent about Castro’s human rights abuses while lavishing praise on the Cuban health care system, then he’s complicit in said abuses.
[Update: Cuba is one of the world’s 10 worst “backsliders” on freedom of the press, according to a May 2 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. If Moore has any integrity as a proponent of free media and the right to dissent, he’ll want to make a note of this during the fallout over “Sicko.”]
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