Cuban Medics in Haiti Put the World to Shame
Nina Lakhani writes in the Indepedent:
They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America’s doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America’s arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame.
A medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans is operating all over earthquake-torn and cholera-infected Haiti, as part of Fidel Castro’s international medical mission which has won the socialist state many friends, but little international recognition.
Observers of the Haiti earthquake could be forgiven for thinking international aid agencies were alone in tackling the devastation that killed 250,000 people and left nearly 1.5 million homeless. In fact, Cuban healthcare workers have been in Haiti since 1998, so when the earthquake struck the 350-strong team jumped into action. And amid the fanfare and publicity surrounding the arrival of help from the US and the UK,…
Danny Schechter: Bungled Aid Hurts More Than It Helps
“Knock, knock journalists? Many of you have done a great and compassionate job of documenting this tragedy and showing the pain of the victims. Now let’s investigate how and why this relief operation imploded and became worse than Katrina. Who is responsible and who should be held accountable? Why can?t we have more international cooperation of the kind the Cubans are asking for? Why is the focus on military security–is France right that the US is acting like an occupying power? If the Haitian government isn’t working, why not allow Aristide to come back and re-energize it? It is sickening to watch all this pain compounded by incompetence. The relief operation needs relief and it needs”–Danny Schechter, director of Plunder: The Crime of our Time.
