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NEW YORK—Several years ago, during my first visit to Cuba to attend a health-related meeting, I was witness to an unusual event. As friends and I walked into the Bodeguita del Medio, a traditional restaurant famous because of the number of illustrious visitors who had dined there over the years, a young Cuban man was discretely asked to leave. Seeing my friends and myself and realizing we were not Cuban, he began ranting against the restrictions placed on Cubans by their government.
“I have the money to spend here,” he told us. “But they prefer to have foreigners eat here. I am fed up with this regime. Do you see something in that corner?” he asked us. “Yes,” we said, “there is a man standing there.” “You are wrong,” he replied, “he is not a man. That’s a gigantic ear that is listening to everything I am saying to you. But I don’t care; I am so sick and tired of this situation.”
In a few brief minutes, I gained an idea of some of the problems besieging Cuban society: the need for foreign money, the oppressive nature of the regime, and the dissatisfaction of the youth. These impressions were later confirmed during another visit to the island when I headed a U.N. mission to assess the progress of Cuban scientists in developing interferon, an anti-viral substance.
To pinpoint the Cuban governments shortcomings, however, is in no way to deny its achievements. During that last visit I had the opportunity of meeting Fidel Castro. Although we didn’t raise any political issues in our conversation, I was able to observe his enormous interest in, and knowledge about, health issues. That interest and knowledge underlie his government’s achievements in two critical areas, health and education. Cuba is in the forefront in both fields when compared to other Latin American countries and in some areas on a par with the United States.
This progress, however, has been hindered by an unnecessary and substantially ineffectual embargo against that country, a situation that has cost the United States both in material terms and in prestige among Latin American governments who consider the embargo a violation of a nation’s rights and sovereignty.
There is no doubt that political pressure from the powerful Cuban exile community in Florida has been an important factor in maintaining the embargo. However, the descendants of that immigrant generation have a more nuanced view of the Cuban regime; they have seen the damage caused by the antagonism between both countries and are eager for more amicable relations between them.
While Cubans have always been clear as to their admiration for the American people—which I was able to observe during my visits to the island—the embargo does more to foster hate and mistrust of the U.S. government than of the Cuban government. Moreover, the United States has been flying in the face of world opinion on the Cuban issue. If votes in the U.N. General Assembly are a test, no country in the world—with the exception of the United States, Israel, and the Marshall Islands—support the embargo.
President Obama has wisely eased restrictions on travel to the island by Cubans and their descendants. He should now strengthen that approach through an intense exchange of scientists, doctors, artists and ordinary citizens between both countries. The effect would be dramatic in neutralizing the atmosphere of antagonism and should lead to a lifting of the embargo.
Trade with the United States now amounts to half a billion dollars a year, a negligible amount equivalent to U.S. trade with Canada on a single day. Should normal relations return the increase in trade could be substantial. A furthering of this administration’s more open attitude toward the island is in the best interests of both the United States and the Cuban people, who have been the ones really hurt by this situation.
César Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.