In a tragedy as great as Haiti’s, there is no room for political cards to be played. All aid-givers should be cooperating to save as many lives as possible. They also should share resources to the greatest extent possible, as well as integrate their medical resources and patients. The present tragedy gives both the US and Cuba an opportunity to work together, thereby harvesting the benefits of medical diplomacy through a rational integration of their respective health service resources. This cooperation between Cuba and Washington would increase aid to Haitian victims while improving their own bilateral relations. Wouldn’t it be a constructive moment if the Cuban medical teams, which have been on the ground in Haiti for many years, and the now newly arriving US medical teams could work together? This would allow them to share their practical knowledge, procedures and supplies to save more Haitian lives today, and later jointly assist the island authorities in constructing their own viable health care system capable of responding to future natural disasters.
Julie Feinsilver is a COHA Senior Research Fellow and a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Latin American Studies. She is writing a new book tentatively titled Medical Diplomacy: Fifty Years of Cuba’s Soft Power Politics, and has conducted research on Cuban medical diplomacy since 1979. Dr. Feinsilver is the author of the book, Healing the Masses: Cuban Health Politics At Home and Abroad (University of California Press, 1993), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on Cuba dealing with medical issues.
Dr. Feinsilver earned a Ph.D. in sociology at Yale University (1989) and taught Latin American politics at Wesleyan University and number of other institutions.
How wrong can you be, the media coverage of cubans doctors working in Haiti is on the order of the day; CNN, CCN en Espanol, REUTERS, AFP, AP, BLOOMBERG and a like, are either showing them in action or writing about them. Let’s quit leg pulling , please !
The US media pays little attention to assistance from anyone but Americans. Cuba has done reasonably well in that context, especially on CNN.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/0…
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/0…
One of the most powerful stories appeared in The Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/01…
However, Dr. Feinsilver's larger point of the potential for transformative collaboration is completely correct. There are many ideas circulating of ambitious forms of cooperation which deserve serious consideration by both governments. The process should start immediately by the US offering medicines and equipment to Cuban doctors from its resources in Haiti.
John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Thank you very much for this great article to Dr. Feinsilver and to COHA as well for posting it.
i just want to add: Perhaps these media coverages about Cuban medcines working in Haiti is able to change Cuba's image of a "rogue state" in public opinion of U.S. Americans and perhaps they can learn, why the Cuban Five unjustly held imprisoned in the USA are so loyal to their system taking even the risk of their lives by having tried to prevent terrorist acts from their compatriots.
For more information, see http://www.freethefive.org
I would agree with you if weren't fanatics that in the name of a religion or ideal are capable to give their lives and take with them the lives of others.
Dear Julie Feinsilver,
I can tell how much you admire Cuba's dictatorship, just by looking at how many books you dedicate to price Castro's Jail-Isle Health System, have you being in one of Cuba's hospital? I'm not talking about the one for the high clase of cubans or the ones for medical-turism, no, I'm talking about the ones for the people, simple cubans, visit them by yourself, without gide, go for ejemple to the ones in citys like San Antonio de los Baños or the one in Bejucal, Quivicán, only 45 minutes, 1 hour a way from Havana, talk to regular cubans without any witness and then you will change your mine completely about that sistem you admire so much…
First hand information.
Justin.
Cuban doctors, Haitian needs, whats more natural.
US-Cuba disaster diplomacy has a long history http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/cubausa.html and it has not yet worked. That does not preclude possible successes now or in the future, nor does it preclude attempts to actively use disasters to bring enemies together. But this article is disappointingly naive, just hoping that it will happen without recognising the reality that solid (if uncomfortable) reasons exist for why disaster diplomacy continually fails, as detailed in extensive scientific publications on the topic http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/publications.htm…