Cuba Faces Healthโ Crisis: Activistโ Calls for Humanitarian Intervention
havana, cuba – Cuban activistโ Amelia Calzadilla is urgently calling for international humanitarian intervention as the islandโ nation grapples with a severe outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases – dengue, chikungunya, โand Oropouche virus – and a collapsing healthcare system.She accuses the Cuban goverment of “hiding the magnitude of the โoutbreak” and “putting the lives of millions of citizens at risk.”
Calzadilla specifically requests assistance, even from organizations like theโ WHO, โstating, “This problem is noโค longer just cuba’s, but security for other nations.” Sheโข emphasizes this isn’t a call for militaryโ action, but a desperate plea for medical aid.
A System in Collapse
The outbreak, recognized by the Ministryโ of Public Health โas “difficult to control,” is overwhelming hospitals across more than aโฃ dozen provinces. โขCalzadilla reportsโ a widespread lack of supplies and care,leading many Cubans to avoid seeking medical attention. Pharmacies are reportedly empty, forcing families to purchase essential โmedications on the black market at exorbitant prices – frequently enough exceeding an average worker’s annual salary. she paints a grimโข picture of citizens resorting to administering IVs at home due to the lack of hospital resources, stating, “The governmentโ makes you sick and then abandons you.”
Abuse and Blackmail
Theโ crisis is compounded by alleged abuses of power. Calzadilla claims the Ministry of โEducation is threatening to deduct 40% of sick workers’ already meager salaries if they provide medical certificates, โคeffectivelyโฃ punishing them for illness caused โฃbyโข the state’s failure to control the epidemic. Sheโข describes this as “inhuman blackmail,”โค accusing the government of deliberately โallowing the disease โขto spread as a means of social control, keeping the population “weak and at home.” She believes โคthe government prioritizes suppressing dissent over publicโฃ health.
International Appeal & Regime Criticism
Calzadilla is appealing to international organizations like the WHO, the red Cross, andโข the Red Crescent for immediate intervention, warning that the outbreak poses a regional threat. She points to past international responses to outbreaks โคlike cholera in Haiti โฃas a precedent.
She sharply criticizes the Cuban regime’s lack of transparency and refusal to seek external help,arguing that acknowledging the crisis would be an admission of failure. “There is noโ longer timeโ for political pride: cuba needs urgent help,” she insists.
Calzadilla characterizes the regime as a “dictatorship closed as an oyster” that has created a situation were illness is a “sentence.” She concludes, “We are governed by a โขdictatorship that endangers the lives โof its citizens all the timeโฆ And the worst thing is that they know it.”
her call for help echoes growing complaints from doctors and citizens regarding the healthโ system’s โcollapse, medicine shortages, vector proliferation, and the lack of an effective institutional response. โ While โคthe government attributes the crisis toโข the US embargo, โขcritics like Calzadilla argue the root cause lies within: a destroyed health system, anโค incapable government, and a population left to suffer.
