The Bahamas is, at times, an incredibly challenged country.
We have been reminded of that repeatedly this summer.
Our electricity problems have frustrated households and businesses. We continue to struggle with the cost of living, infrastructure deficiencies and many of the limitations that come with being a small island developing state.
But we are also an incredibly blessed country.
Our proximity to the United States gives Bahamians access to the world’s largest economy only a short flight away. We have a robust economy of our own, relatively high standards of living, and freedoms of travel and trade that we sometimes take for granted.
Not everyone in our region enjoys those advantages.
Cuba certainly does not.
The humanitarian and economic situation in Cuba has deteriorated significantly this year.
The United States has tightened the economic pressure on the Cuban government, including measures that have contributed to the disruption of oil supplies to the island.
In June, our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel advisory warning Bahamians about conditions in Cuba, including difficulties with power supply, food availability, transportation and healthcare.
Cuban Ambassador to The Bahamas Juan Carlos Marcof Sanchez has now put some extraordinary numbers to that suffering.
He said Cuba’s childhood cancer survival rate has fallen from 85 percent to 65 percent and that infant mortality has doubled.
“At the moment, we have 100,000 people waiting for surgery, among them 12,000 children,” he said at a recent press conference announcing further aid to Cuba from The Bahamas.
“And this is because of the sanctions, the blockade, the strengthening of the blockade from the US government to Cuba, that has provoked in the energy sector, specifically, big problems to our country. In the last week, we have had three complete blackouts in the whole island because of this situation. And without electricity, you cannot operate.”
The Bahamas government has responded to the worsening humanitarian situation by donating $500,000 worth of critical chemotherapy medication to Cuba to assist children receiving treatment at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiology in Havana.
Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Michael Darville said the donation consists of eight chemotherapy drugs specifically used in the treatment of children with cancer.
“We intend to start that delivery today, [Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Jerusa] Ali will be heading into Cuba to carry the medicines directly to the hospital that would utilize these chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of children who are in dire need of assistance,” he said when he announced the shipment last week.
“We intend to do it in a variety of tranches. This is the first batch of eight very important chemotherapy drugs that is very specific in the care of children who suffer from forms of cancer. And I am so pleased that finally, under the direction of the Cabinet of The Bahamas, following the trend throughout CARICOM, the delivery of these humanitarian medications to the people of Cuba.”
We applaud the government for acting.
There has been considerable pressure on The Bahamas and other Caribbean countries over their relationships with Cuba, particularly regarding Cuban medical cooperation programs.
We have previously acknowledged that there are legitimate questions surrounding those arrangements.
Those questions should be addressed.
But they are separate from the broader question of whether the Cuban people should be subjected to extraordinary economic suffering in the hope that enough hardship will eventually cause the Cuban government to buckle.
That strategy has been pursued, in one form or another, for more than half a century.
It has not produced the political outcome its proponents hoped for.
The Cuban people have demonstrated extraordinary resilience through decades of economic isolation, political confrontation and material hardship.
It is possible that another year of severe economic pressure produces political changes that the previous decades did not.
We doubt it.
The US appetite for another major conflict may be limited, particularly after recent military action involving Iran and with the US midterm elections approaching in November.
Whatever happens politically between Washington and Havana, the Caribbean should remain focused on what is happening to ordinary Cuban people.
Children with cancer are not responsible for the political system in Havana.
For decades, Cuban doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals have worked throughout the Caribbean, often in communities where governments have struggled to attract sufficient medical personnel.
The United States remains our most important international partner.
But friendship does not require agreement on every issue.
Sometimes small countries must be prepared to do what they believe is right.
Providing medicine to children suffering from cancer is right.
Cuba has stood with countries throughout this region many times.
We cannot abandon the Cuban people now.
Original source: bs