Cuban Colada

Control of medical resources is appalling, inspectors find in visits to care centers

An inspection of the storerooms in hospitals and other medical care facilities in Villa Clara province revealed a shocking "disorder in the distribution and control of resources," the daily Granma reported Friday.
Large amounts of medical supplies that were stored away and designated as "idle" in one facility were badly needed in other facilities, government inspectors found. In effect, the left hand didn't know what the right was doing, the article suggested. Examples:
• Some health-care centers lacked autoclaves for the sterilization of surgical instruments, yet 37 of those machines were sitting idle in various other centers.
• Inspectors found many other items gathering dust in some facilities: 4,490 Petri dishes, 10,090 tongue depressors, 2,264 nasogastric tubes, 212 surgery needles, 3,194 chrome sutures, 1,146 oxygen containers, 800 urine bags, 299 scalpels, 9,600 nylon gloves, 67 washing machines, 35 blenders, 95 refrigerators, 19 freezers, 576 beds, 175 ultraviolet lamps, 155 gooseneck lamps, 55 television sets, 62 air conditioning units, 83 stretchers, and 225 fans.
"The list was interminable and included dental X-ray plates, thousands of soap bars, plastic cubes, ward blankets and other items," the paper said. "The figures are alarming."
Not to worry, however. "At present, those  items are being redistributed in a rational manner," the article said. "Those with defects will be reconditioned [...] with the intention not to throw anything away and to salvage as much as possible."
Imbalances in personnel were also noticed. Some facilities have too many employees, others have too few. "A reordering of the labor force is being carried out at present," the article said.
Disorganization, waste and lack of control "cost [the government] million-dollar figures every year, figures that are unsustainable," the article summed up. The state coffers are not "a bottomless barrel."
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Prison inmates are mistreated in U.S. too, Granma charges, in an apparent backlash

Seemingly out of nowhere and for no stated reason, Granma on Friday published an unsigned article denouncing "The shame of the U.S. government" – the mistreatment of inmates in American prisons. Among the article's major points:
• One of every 15 black adults, and one of every 36 Hispanics, is in prison. Two thirds of all lifers are black or Hispanic.
• Every year, 7,000 inmates die in American prisons; "many are murdered or commit suicide." In the past five years, 72 persons died in migrant detention centers.
• In California in 2006, 426 inmates died "because of belated medical treatment." Sixty-six of those deaths were either preventable or possibly preventable. Granma cites the case of a 41-year-old diabetic Hispanic who died after "the prison officials did not provide him with medical treatment, even though they knew his condition."
• The article also points out a high incidence of mental illness, sexual abuse and AIDS affliction among inmates, and states that "brutality and torture are endemic in U.S. prisons."
• Most prisoners in solitary confinement have been in that situation for more than five years, the newspaper alleges.
The Granma article may be an implementation of the statement attributed to Raúl Castro to the effect that the Americans "can inquire or ask any questions about Cuba, but we have the right to ask about all the problems of the United States." (See our Feb. 25 blog item "Castro: We, too, have lost many Cubans" and other items related to prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo.)
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.
 

Cuba says it gave Zapata all necessary aid

The Cuban government "guaranteed [Orlando Zapata] all the necessary medicines and treatments until his death," says a statement from the Cuban Embassy in Madrid, cited by the Europa Press news agency.
Zapata went on a hunger strike on Dec. 18 and "refused to receive medical attention," the statement goes. Despite his refusal, he was taken to the prison hospital in Camagüey and from there to the Camagüey Provincial Hospital and the Inmates Hospital in Havana.
He died at the renowned Ameijeiras Brothers Hospital (in photo), where he was taken on the eve of his death.
"Everywhere, he underwent clinical studies and was given all necessary medical attention, including intermediate and intensive therapy, and voluntary feedings by parenteral (intravenous) and enteral (nasal tube) means, something that was acknowledged by his own mother," the statement said.
On Feb. 3, Zapata experienced fever that "disappeared" in 24 hours, but later he was diagnosed with pneumonia "which was treated with the most advanced antibiotics and procedures." Because both lungs were affected, "he was aided with artificial respiration until his death."
The embassy's version aims to contradict claims by the Cuban dissident movement that the authorities contributed to Zapata's death by not providing him with proper medical treatment.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Church says it was denied visits to Zapata

Text of statement in the website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, as translated by The Miami Herald:
Through the international press media, we have learned that prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, 42, a neighbor in the municipality of Banes, a mason by trade, who had accumulated a prison sentence of 36 years, died in Havana after 83 days of a hunger strike. He was considered to be a prisoner of conscience and the strike that took his life was aimed at drawing attention to his demands regarding the penitentiary regime.
Death in these conditions is a tragedy for all, because at issue is the life of a person, which is always the greatest gift we all should protect and conserve.
For that reason, the Catholic Church has tried in similar situations to convince people not to use methods of complaint that endanger their own lives, which is a form of violence that a person carries out against himself.
On several occasions, the Church requested a visit with Mr. Zapata, which could not be accomplished. In the same manner, [the Church] has requested, and now reiterates its request, to the authorities who have in their hands the lives and health of prisoners to take the adequate measures so that situations like this will not be repeated, and at the same time to create the conditions of dialogue and suitable understanding to prevent such painful situations, which benefit no one and bring suffering to many.
To Mr. Zapata's mother, relatives and loved ones, we extend our condolences and the assurance of our prayers.
We ask God that we may all hear Jesus Christ's call to work for the common good, as if it were our own good.
May the Virgin of Charity, with her beneficent presence, make all of us Cubans feel like and be brothers.
/signed/ Permanent Committee
Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba

Castro: We, too, have lost many Cubans

Venezuela's Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) has provided expanded coverage of the comments attributed to Raúl Castro during a press gaggle Wednesday in Mariel.
According to ABN, Castro compared the loss of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo with the losses suffered by Cuba in its standoff with the United States.
"Unfortunately, in this confrontation we have with the United States, we have lost thousands of Cubans, principally victims of the state terrorism practiced by that power," ABN quotes Castro as saying. "Between the dead and the disabled, they've numbered about 5,000, not counting thousands of wounded who managed to recover, including diplomats who were also murdered abroad and including people who disappeared in other countries."
ABN also quotes Castro as restating his offer to dialogue with Washington.
"They say they want to discuss with us and we are willing to discuss with the U.S. government all the problems they want. In Parliament, I repeated three times, 'all, all, all.' We will not accept any discussions that are not in absolute equality for both parties. They can inquire or ask any questions about Cuba, but we have the right to ask about all the problems of the United States," Castro said, according to the Venezuelan agency.
"In half a century, we have not murdered anybody. Nobody has been tortured here, no extra-judicial execution has been carried out here. Well, torture has been committed in Cuba but at the Guantánamo Naval Base, not in the territory governed by the Revolution," the Cuban leader is reported as saying.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Official website blames media and the right for the starvation death of jailed dissident

Cubadebate, a government-run website, has posted its first commentary on the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Written by a blogger named Enrique Ubieta Gómez, it is titled "Zapata: A useful corpse?" Here are excerpts.
• "A man surrenders his life for an ideal that prioritizes the happiness of others, not one that prioritizes his own. So, the lamentable death of Orlando Zapata – a common prisoner with a long criminal record not at all linked to politics – deeply rejoices the 'grieving' hypocrites. Transformed into a 'political activist' after many trips to prison, Zapata was the perfect candidate for self-execution.
"He was a 'dispensable' man for the petty little groups and easy to convince to persist in an absurd hunger strike with impossible demands (his own kitchen and telephone in his cell) that none of the real ringleaders was brave enough to maintain.
• "Zapata's corpse is now exhibited with cynicism as a collective trophy. Like vultures, the media – the local mercenaries and the international right – circled the moribund man. His death is a feast. The spectacle is revolting, because the writers don't lament the death of a human being [...] but raise it high, almost gleefully, and use it with premeditated political objectives.
"Zapata's case reminds me of Pánfilo [...] a man in the full process of alcoholic detoxification who was invited to drink so he could say before the cameras what [the media] wanted to hear. I wonder if that isn't an accusation against those who now appropriate [Zapata's] 'cause.' They are right when they say it was a murder, but the media hide the true assassin: the Cuban petty groups and their transnational mentors. Zapata was murdered by the counter-revolution."
For the entire article, in Spanish, click here. For Ubieta's blog site, click here. [UPDATE: On Saturday, Feb. 27, Granma published an expanded version of the Ubieta article, giving details of Zapata's police record. To read "Who benefits from death?", click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Lula meets with the Castro brothers

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Cuban host, Raúl Castro, on Wednesday toured the port of Mariel and then visited Fidel Castro for one hour at his home in Havana.
Mariel, about 30 miles west of Havana, will be remodeled with Brazilian assistance and funds, Radio Habana reported. The Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht will invest US$450 million in the creation of a container terminal. Construction is expected to start in the next couple of months.
Lula arrived in Havana Tuesday night, after attending the Rio Group summit in Cancún, Mexico. On Thursday, he will travel to Haiti.
[UPDATE: The Washington Post quotes Lula as saying that Fidel Castro is looking "exceptionally well." For more of the Brazilian president's impressions, click here. For pictures of the meeting, in Granma, click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Castro "laments" dissident's death

In a rare public statement, Cuban leader Raul Castro said he "laments" Tuesday's death of hunger striker Orlando Zapata, who died after protesting prison beatings.

In a statement posted on Cuba's cubadebate website, Castro blamed Washington for the dissident's death and said there are "no executions" in Cuba. Meanwhile el Nuevo Herald reports  that  no one's heard from Zapata's mother since yesterday, and state security is closing in on dissidents to avoid protests.

-Frances Robles 

Hapless in Havana

Cuba scholar Philip Peters of the Lexington Institute penned a lengthy piece in this month's Foreign Policy magazine,  saying it's time to scrap the US AID boondoggle and find other ways of promoting democracy in Cuba. In the meantime, the US AID subcontractor jailed in Cuba needs to be freed with promises to never return.

"Ultimately, Obama would do well to slash or scrap USAID's Cuba program in an act of fiscal prudence," Peters writes.  "But the current policies play naively and directly into the hands of Cuban state security.

Thus, Obama should not only correct USAID's mistakes, but reassess and revive Cuba policy writ large."

-Frances Robles

U.S. 'deeply saddened' by prisoner's death

Text of press release issued Wednesday by the U.S. State Department, over the signature of Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs.
"On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an eleven-week hunger strike. We are deeply saddened to learn of his death, and the U.S. Government extends its heartfelt sympathies to his family, friends, and supporters.
"Zapata was arrested in 2003 on charges of 'contempt for authority.' While in Havana last week, the U.S. delegation for Migration Talks raised Zapata’s incarceration and poor health with Cuban officials and urged them to provide all necessary medical care.
"Mr. Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death highlights the injustice of Cuba's holding more than 200 political prisoners who should now be released without delay."