Cuban travelogue—Cuba’s system examined—“Health care and religious beliefs”—Part 5

By SJ Otto

In Cuba, health care is a major area of concern and interest by the government. Unlike the US, where poor people are excluded from badly needed health care facilities, medicines and care in general, health care is free for everyone. Everyone, regardless of their income, has access to health care and medicines. In the US some poor people die early in their lives from lack of health care. That is not the case in Cuba. Healthcare there is a right.

Before the revolution began, there was no access to medical facilities for many people. Parasites were a common problem. Also before revolution there was an estimated 6,000 professional and after the revolution about half those people left. Before the revolution there were a lot more private hospitals and clinics. After the revolution the government put hospitals and clinics in the mountains for people who lived a reasonable distance from the hospitals and clinics in the major cities.

We visited General Hospital Gustavo Aldereguia Lima- University General, a modern hospital that also had a university attached so they can train new doctors and medical students.

Today Cuba has medical students from 26 countries. There are several universities throughout the country and Cuba specializes in the education of future doctors.

We met a few times with students from the dorms and from some universities. We met several students at General Hospital Gustavo Aldereguia Lima.

At one institution I met a young student from Suriname, the small country in South America that used to be a Dutch colony. 

It is the only country in the Americas where the Dutch language is spoken. The student was a Moslem. We also met a student from Puerto Rico. She said she considered herself a Puerto Rican and not an American.

There were some other specialized institutions, for example we visited a special school for children with autism. It seemed to be a modern institution with an up-to-date institution on the symptoms and how to deal with them.

Cuba has complete freedom of religion and since 1991 people of religious faith can join the Communist Party. While religion was discouraged from time to time in Cuba’s past, today there is complete freedom of religion and I saw a lot of churches and religious symbols throughout my trip. Today it is hard to believe this country’s religious communities have ever been suppressed.

We spent one of our afternoons listening to Dr. Enrique Alimo of the Hebrew Community at the Beth Shalom Synagogue. He told us that most of the Island’s religions cooperate together and have a dialog with both each other and the government. Among the island’s religions are Jews, Christians and Moslems. We also heard from members of the Santería faith. That is what most people associate with Voodoo. But their religion is really more complicated than the images people see on our TV shows. That religion is commonly found in Caribbean Islands and much of it is mixed with elements of Catholicism.

We were treated to some tradition dances, songs and music. We met with representatives from several different faiths. One contentious presentation was a short film clip that claimed that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. Almost all of the caravanistas found that offensive since most of us support Palestinian rights and Israel today violates those people’s rights. One group that left rather sudden and said almost nothing to us were some representatives of the Moslem faith. They may have felt insulted by the pro-Zionist film clip. Some of us wondered if the same disagreements found in the states, by such outspoken Moslems as Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota, are also found in Cuba. Many Moslem communities favor Palestinian rights.

Most of the caravanistas had some type of religious beliefs. There were two Marxist-Leninists. Traditionally Marxist-Leninists don’t believe in or favor religion. Some can be hostile to it. Today I consider myself an Epicurean, which is not really a religion, as in those who believe in God and the afterlife. It is more of a philosophy of life, as with many Taoists. I used to be a Catholic until my 30s. I favored liberation theology. I dropped Catholicism during the rain of Pope John Paul II. Because of that I can understand people’s attachments to their religious beliefs. Although my beliefs today resemble atheism, I have never believed in chasing religious people away from a political movement. So while the issue of religion was not something I was really that interested, it is important to a lot of other people and for that reason, this article has plenty of significance.