Tag: Cubas

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Raúl Castro to Step Down as Head of Cuba’s Communist Social gathering

Raúl Castro to Step Down as Head of Cuba’s Communist Party

MEXICO CITY – Raúl Castro announced on Friday that he was handing over the leadership of the ruling Cuban Communist Party to a younger generation “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit”, leaving the island nation for the first time without Castro in a leadership role for over 60 years.

Mr Castro, who will turn 90 in June, reiterated his long-awaited intention to resign in a speech opening the Communist Party Congress on Friday. He is expected to officially resign and announce his replacement before the conference ends on Monday.

After two terms as President of Cuba, Mr. Castro resigned from this office in 2018 and was replaced by his hand-picked successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

The Cuban leadership is likely to announce further reforms during the party congress that will allow for more free market activity and further divert the country’s economy from the strict, state model introduced after the revolution that brought Mr Castro and his brother Fidel to power in 1959.

The Communist Party has no choice but to reform itself or to face growing discontent as Cuba faces its worst economic crisis since the 1990s following the fall of the Soviet Union. By introducing a new, younger political class, Mr Castro hopes to put the country on track to fully and fully embrace the economic reforms he has put in place in the years since the death of his brother Fidel – the leader of the revolution – five years ago to be fully accepted and implemented.

Mr Castro is seen as more pragmatic than Fidel, who is more willing to turn Cuba away from the communist model his brother advocated, which has brought the country great development achievements, including high literacy rates and quality health care for all Cubans, but it’s gone the economy in ruins.

“Of course, Raúl will continue to have influence, as Deng Xiaoping did when he resigned,” said Carlos Alzugaray, a party insider and former diplomat in the Cuban government, referring to the Chinese revolutionary leader who took over and implemented China after Mao Zedong a time of far-reaching market reforms.

Mr Alzugaray added that Mr Castro could deliberate on fundamental issues such as relations with the United States and major economic issues from his retirement. But he is unlikely to interfere in everyday life in Cuba.

“It won’t be a clean affair, it’s not how the system works in Cuba,” said Alzugaray. “It’s not like the US, where the former presidents have no influence if they step down.”

Mr Castro announced in 2016 that he would give up his post as General Secretary of the Communist Party during this year’s party congress in order to hand over power to a younger generation. The Secretary General is the most powerful position in Cuba, more powerful than the Presidency, and is considered the second highest position.

Mr Díaz-Canel will likely be elected as the new general secretary of the Communist Party over the weekend to consolidate his leadership over Cuba. The two roles are often filled by the same person, with Fidel holding both positions for about 30 years.

Younger members are expected to be elected to the 17-member Politburo before the end of the congress to further clarify what Cubans refer to as the “historical generation,” the veterans of the armed revolution.

Cuba has been ruled by an aging political class for decades, many of whom sparked the revolution in the 1950s and are seen as resistant to the reforms Mr Castro sought to impose.

Maria Abi-Habib reported from Mexico City. Ed Agustin contributed from Havana, Cuba.

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Health

Cuba’s Covid vaccine may very well be made eligible for vacationers

Cuba's Covid vaccine could be made eligible for tourists

On October 23, 2020, at the Melia Varadero International Hotel in Matanzas Province, a man is standing near a Cuban national flag. Varadero, Cuba’s main seaside resort, is reopening to international tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic.

YAMIL LOCATION | AFP | Getty Images

Cuba’s most advanced Covid-19 vaccine candidate is set to enter late-stage clinical trials next week, bringing the tiny island nation ever closer to an exceptional medical performance that analysts believe will have far-reaching ramifications across the global south.

Cuba’s most promising vaccine candidate of the four under development is Soberana 02. The vaccine name translates from Spanish to “Sovereign”, an alleged allusion to Cuba’s national pride in its world-famous healthcare system.

Soberana 02 is scheduled to enter phase 3 studies from March 1. According to official figures, up to 150,000 volunteers will take part in the tests within weeks. Phase 3 trials represent the final phase before a vaccine is generally approved by national regulatory authorities.

It comes at a time when many people in Cuba are forced to stand in line for hours to buy basic goods and the authorities continue to adhere to a decade-long US trade embargo – with sanctions that former President Donald Trump has in recent years Years.

“It’s just this incredible dichotomy,” Helen Yaffe, a Cuba expert and lecturer in economic and social history at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, told CNBC over the phone.

“On one hand, you have this high-tech biotech sector that brings a lot of hope to the global south because there is the possibility of an affordable vaccine – (and) vaccinating the global south will be the priority,” said Yaffe.

“And at the same time, Cubans get up at four or five in the morning to join the queue because there is a real shortage of really basic food and even medicine.”

What do we know about Soberana 02?

The Cuban Finlay Institute, the country’s leading biopharma institution, is overseeing the development of Soberana 02. Vicente Verez, director of the institute, has indicated that the vaccine could be available as an option to tourists later this year.

If Soberana 02 is found to be safe and effective, the development of a domestically manufactured vaccine will likely be hailed as an astounding scientific breakthrough and major political triumph. Cuba would also be the first Latin American country to immunize its population with a domestically manufactured vaccine.

Technician Mayelin Mejias will work in the vaccine aseptic and packaging processing facility at the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana on January 20, 2021.

YAMIL LOCATION | AFP | Getty Images

The government has not yet outlined any concrete plans for vaccinating tourists, but analysts say it is possible for foreigners traveling to Cuba to receive their first dose of vaccine on the island before subsequent doses to take away.

Although public data are limited, it is believed that up to three doses of the vaccine could be given at two-week intervals.

People are already talking about sun, sea, sand and Soberana 02. So I wouldn’t be surprised if people went to Cuba to look for the vaccine and I’m sure the Cubans will offer it.

Helen Yaffe

Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow

Yaffe, who is also the author of We Are Cuba !: How a Revolutionary People Survived in a Post-Soviet World, said Cuba’s sophisticated health system would help the country introduce the vaccine “extremely” quickly.

“I can guarantee that. And if they have a vaccine every two weeks, people could be vaccinated within a month of starting,” Yaffe said.

“By the summer, people will be pretty desperate to go on vacation, and I think Cuba, which is nominating itself as the ideal travel destination. People are already talking about sun, sea, sand and Soberana 02. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Die People go to Cuba to find the vaccine and I’m sure the Cubans will offer it. “

How does it work?

The Soberana 02 vaccine is a conjugated vaccine. This is a type of vaccine that contains a portion of the spike protein that binds or conjugates to human cells to increase its stability and effectiveness.

Unlike other coronavirus vaccine candidates like Pfizer-BioNTech, Soberana 02 doesn’t require any additional cooling requirements. This should ease the logistical and administrative challenges associated with vaccination programs in low-income countries.

People line up in Havana to buy groceries on Feb.2, 2021 as Covid-19 cases emerge in the island nation.

YAMIL LOCATION | AFP | Getty Images

At a virtual session led by the Pan American Health Organization on February 5, Dr. Verez, Soberana 02 returned “encouraging results” in the early test phases. He added that the vaccination has not yet produced any significant side effects.

The Cuban government has announced that it will produce 100 million cans of Soberana 02 this year to meet the needs of its own citizens as well as those in other countries. It is said to be one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate its entire population in 2021, though many advanced nations started administering bumps almost two months ago.

Several countries have expressed an interest in purchasing the vaccine, including Vietnam, Iran, Venezuela and the African Union, which represents all 55 countries in Africa.

Cuba, which has seen relatively few Covid cases compared to other countries in the region, has seen a sharp rise in infections and deaths in recent weeks. To date, Cuba has recorded 45,361 cases of the coronavirus and 300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“One of the world’s best kept secrets”

Cuba has long been known for its medical diplomacy. Thousands of professionals have been sent abroad to help countries cope with short-term crises, natural disasters and medical emergencies.

Human rights groups have raised concerns that the Cuban government is imposing repressive rules on doctors working abroad and invoking the right to privacy, freedom, expression and association.

At the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, Cuba had an estimated 24,500 medical workers in 58 countries. Another 4,000 members of the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade, a group of highly respected health professionals, have worked in countries from Kuwait to Mexico, Italy to South Africa.

Cuban doctors during a welcoming ceremony for Cuban health workers deployed in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Western Cape on May 24, 2020 to support efforts in the fight against COVID-19.

Mischa Jordaan | Gallo Images via Getty Images

It’s a deeply rooted tradition that the country, with just over 11 million, has more medical staff working overseas than all of the G7 countries combined.

“This is an extraordinary recording, largely unknown to the mainstream media – one of the best-kept secrets in the world,” said John Kirk, a professor in the Latin America program at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, via email to CNBC.

“Medical internationalism is in Cuban DNA, and the preamble to the Cuban Constitution mentions the obligation that Cuba must share its medical talent with developing countries,” he added.

Categories
Health

An Inside Take a look at Cuba’s Fixed Wrestle for Clear Water

An Inside Look at Cuba’s Constant Struggle for Clean Water

Manuel Reyes Estrada carried a shape and a pencil in one hand, and a bucket filled with small fish and a plastic bucanero beer mug in the other. “It is like that,” he said. “We, the employees of the health brigade, are only allowed to write with pencils.” His superiors, he explained, use pens. In the afternoon, the superiors visit the houses in which the employees of the health brigade worked earlier in the day – “to check whether we have done our job well”.

Manuel stopped for a second on the dirt road in the Cuban city of Holguín to fill in the house numbers on his otherwise blank form. He brushed the sweat from his face.

Every day in cities across Cuba, a multitude of workers – from inspectors and fumigators to truck drivers and pipelines – take to the streets to provide clean water to their fellow citizens.

Among other things, health workers conduct extensive inspections of the water tanks on the roof to make sure the water is clean and free of mosquito larvae, helping to prevent the transmission of tropical diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika.

The effort is part of an analog, labor-intensive solution in a largely non-digital society.

Much of Cuba’s available drinking water is lost to its leaky and outdated pipelines – more than 50 percent, according to estimates.

In recent years, infrastructure problems have been exacerbated by droughts and rising temperatures. For a large part of the population, running water is only available sporadically – in some cases every few days for an hour or two a day. During the river, residents store the available water in cisterns or tanks, which then serve as a potential breeding environment for mosquitoes.

Manuel ignored the barking dog as he entered the house. A woman with curlers in her hair showed him the spiral staircase that leads to the roof. After he found the building’s water tank, he illuminated the shady interior of the building with his small mirror.

With the plastic beer cup, Manuel scooped five small fish from his bucket into the water tank. “We usually use Abate,” he said, referring to a larvicide, also known as temefos, that is used to treat water. But the chemical is not available, he explained, and so the fish that the larvae eat are being used as a natural – albeit complicated – alternative.

With a background in anthropology, I have long been interested in how people live and face their daily challenges.

On previous visits to Cuba, I noticed the daily struggles for fresh water: people struggling with water pumps, the streets soaked due to faulty pipelines, water trucks constantly driving the streets. Born and raised in the rainy Netherlands, where clean drinking water is taken for granted, I didn’t expect water to become scarce on a tropical island.

In February 2019, Cubans approved a new constitution that laid down the right to clean water, along with many other provisions. I have decided to use this constitutional law as a starting point for a project on the underreported water crisis in Cuba.

I traveled to Cuba for six weeks in April and May 2019 and for another four weeks in January 2020. On the first trip I learned how different areas have different problems – and found solutions. I also discovered how many professions were involved in providing water to residents.

By shadowing various workers who were involved in ensuring water access in different parts of the island, I saw a cross-section of what is now Cuba.

In the city of Trinidad, for example, I met Alexis Alonso Mendoza, who described himself as “the most popular man in town”.

Trinidad is divided into several districts, each of which typically has two hours of running water every five days. As the “water key man”, Alexis is responsible for turning the underground locks that change the direction of the water in the city.

With the help of an offline map, I found the small clinics called Policlínicas, where the inspectors and fumigators of the health brigade gather at 8 a.m. before they spread out onto the street.

I got into several water trucks, so-called pipas, which deliver water if the pipeline is broken or the pressure is insufficient – or if the sanitary facilities are simply not working.

Many of the drivers were kind enough to let me watch them fill their trucks and distribute the water. I’ve witnessed the bureaucracy firsthand – and the seemingly endless time the drivers spent waiting to fill their tanks.

I also got into the horse-drawn carriages that carry the water around town and watched how Cubans – with ingenuity and thoroughness – tried to fasten their water hoses and pumps with whatever materials they had at their disposal.

It is difficult to see the full impact of the pandemic on Cuba’s water crisis. For much of 2020, the country largely controlled the virus, but a lack of tourists led to one of the worst food shortages in nearly 25 years. Infections increased dramatically after the lockdowns were lifted and national borders opened in November. Since then, additional pressures on the public health system may have exacerbated inspection, fumigation and delivery.

When Manuel, who has worked for the health brigade for 13 years, returned to the Policlínica at the end of a shift, he thought about his work. He was pleased to “contribute to the health of my compatriots”. But he also enjoys the interactions – visiting people, chatting. “They often invite me to coffee,” he said.

A man on a bicycle greeted him as he drove past. “Manuel, can you bring me fish tomorrow? I’ll get you some cigars for it. “

Manuel later passed his superior. “You know the greenhouse on the corner where the elderly lady lives alone?” he said. “I found mosquito larvae in the lower tank on the terrace.”

“OK,” replied his supervisor. “I’ll send the fumigators to smoke them out. See you tomorrow, mi vida. “

Categories
Health

An Inside Take a look at Cuba’s Fixed Battle for Clear Water

An Inside Look at Cuba’s Constant Struggle for Clean Water

Manuel Reyes Estrada carried a shape and a pencil in one hand, and a bucket filled with small fish and a plastic bucanero beer mug in the other. “It is like that,” he said. “We, the employees of the health brigade, are only allowed to write with pencils.” His superiors, he explained, use pens. In the afternoon, the superiors visit the houses in which the employees of the health brigade worked earlier in the day – “to check whether we have done our job well”.

Manuel stopped for a second on the dirt road in the Cuban city of Holguín to fill in the house numbers on his otherwise blank form. He brushed the sweat from his face.

Every day in cities across Cuba, a multitude of workers – from inspectors and fumigators to truck drivers and pipelines – take to the streets to provide clean water to their fellow citizens.

Among other things, health workers conduct extensive inspections of the water tanks on the roof to make sure the water is clean and free of mosquito larvae, helping to prevent the transmission of tropical diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika.

The effort is part of an analog, labor-intensive solution in a largely non-digital society.

Much of Cuba’s available drinking water is lost to its leaky and outdated pipelines – more than 50 percent, according to estimates.

In recent years, infrastructure problems have been exacerbated by droughts and rising temperatures. For a large part of the population, running water is only available sporadically – in some cases every few days for an hour or two a day. During the river, residents store the available water in cisterns or tanks, which then serve as a potential breeding environment for mosquitoes.

Manuel ignored the barking dog as he entered the house. A woman with curlers in her hair showed him the spiral staircase that leads to the roof. After he found the building’s water tank, he illuminated the shady interior of the building with his small mirror.

With the plastic beer cup, Manuel scooped five small fish from his bucket into the water tank. “We usually use Abate,” he said, referring to a larvicide, also known as temefos, that is used to treat water. But the chemical is not available, he explained, and so the fish that the larvae eat are being used as a natural – albeit complicated – alternative.

With a background in anthropology, I have long been interested in how people live and face their daily challenges.

On previous visits to Cuba, I noticed the daily struggles for fresh water: people struggling with water pumps, the streets soaked due to faulty pipelines, water trucks constantly driving the streets. Born and raised in the rainy Netherlands, where clean drinking water is taken for granted, I didn’t expect water to become scarce on a tropical island.

In February 2019, Cubans approved a new constitution that laid down the right to clean water, along with many other provisions. I have decided to use this constitutional law as a starting point for a project on the underreported water crisis in Cuba.

I traveled to Cuba for six weeks in April and May 2019 and for another four weeks in January 2020. On the first trip I learned how different areas have different problems – and found solutions. I also discovered how many professions were involved in providing water to residents.

By shadowing various workers who were involved in ensuring water access in different parts of the island, I saw a cross-section of what is now Cuba.

In the city of Trinidad, for example, I met Alexis Alonso Mendoza, who described himself as “the most popular man in town”.

Trinidad is divided into several districts, each of which typically has two hours of running water every five days. As the “water key man”, Alexis is responsible for turning the underground locks that change the direction of the water in the city.

With the help of an offline map, I found the small clinics called Policlínicas, where the inspectors and fumigators of the health brigade gather at 8 a.m. before they spread out onto the street.

I got into several water trucks, so-called pipas, which deliver water if the pipeline is broken or the pressure is insufficient – or if the sanitary facilities are simply not working.

Many of the drivers were kind enough to let me watch them fill their trucks and distribute the water. I’ve witnessed the bureaucracy firsthand – and the seemingly endless time the drivers spent waiting to fill their tanks.

I also got into the horse-drawn carriages that carry the water around town and watched how Cubans – with ingenuity and thoroughness – tried to fasten their water hoses and pumps with whatever materials they had at their disposal.

It is difficult to see the full impact of the pandemic on Cuba’s water crisis. For much of 2020, the country largely controlled the virus, but a lack of tourists led to one of the worst food shortages in nearly 25 years. Infections increased dramatically after the lockdowns were lifted and national borders opened in November. Since then, additional pressures on the public health system may have exacerbated inspection, fumigation and delivery.

When Manuel, who has worked for the health brigade for 13 years, returned to the Policlínica at the end of a shift, he thought about his work. He was pleased to “contribute to the health of my compatriots”. But he also enjoys the interactions – visiting people, chatting. “They often invite me to coffee,” he said.

A man on a bicycle greeted him as he drove past. “Manuel, can you bring me fish tomorrow? I’ll get you some cigars for it. “

Manuel later passed his superior. “You know the greenhouse on the corner where the elderly lady lives alone?” he said. “I found mosquito larvae in the lower tank on the terrace.”

“OK,” replied his supervisor. “I’ll send the fumigators to smoke them out. See you tomorrow, mi vida. “