Cuba

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Invasion instructions: print off. Throw darts at printed version. Land disgruntled Cuban exiles where darts landed. Pretend it was nothing to do with the government when it all goes pear shaped.

Cuba is a poor communist island nation in the Caribbean.

Originally a Spanish colony, Cuba was "liberated" by the United States in 1898 at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. It was then controlled for a good many years by US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Since 1959 it has been run by another dictatorship (this time the Communists) with the head of state for almost fifty years being Fidel Castro,[1] despite assassination attempts by the CIA too numerous to count. Until the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba was the USSR's major Western Hemisphere ally.

Located ninety miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba poses a grave threat to U.S. sovereignty... or tourist dollars, anyway — though the US has maintained a trade blockade against Cuba since 1962, it is honored by almost no one else in the world, making Cuba a popular destination for European tourists who want to go somewhere that isn't overrun by Americans. Multiple diplomats, US military officials and businessmen are now calling for easing (or even lifting) the embargo.[2]

While the nation has very limited political freedom (press, speech, dissent, etc. are all restricted), it does offer universal health care to all of its citizens, including opponents to their regime.[3] In the meantime, the Castros have engaged in some China/Vietnam-esque privatization.[4]

The United States still has a lease on a chunk of land at Guantanamo Bay where it operates a Naval base and prison for enemy combatants.

[edit] Health in Cuba

Cuba's national health program provides universal healthcare to all of its citizens; however, the program (as well as the economy overall) was vastly weakened by the United States embargo, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the fact that collective planning is terrible for providing services that private capital would usually cover (e.g. not health care).[5][6]

Moreover, the United States imposed a tight prohibition on subsidiary trade in food and medicine to Cuba in 1992 with the passage of the Cuban Democracy Act (which obviously failed to live up to its name). The Act forbade ships that dock in Cuban ports from docking in U.S. ports for six months. This drastically inhibited shipping, and increased shipping costs about 30%. Because of the nature of the trade prohibited, this embargo has been accused of violating international law.[7] Restrictions on medicinal imports are so extensive that it is nearly impossible for Cuba to import medicines from the US. Some of these restrictions include provisions that Cuba must make all payments in cash and in advance, cannot obtain credit, either public or private, and that Cuba cannot use its own merchant vessels to transport the goods.[8]

After the end of USSR subsidies to Cuba, there was a period of economic shock and turmoil; this greatly affected the quality the national health care service. However, in recent years, it has seen surprisingly substantial recovery and ample improvement. For example, Cuba became the first country to develop and market a vaccine for meningitis B, and its hepatitis B vaccine is being exported to thirty nations worldwide. In addition, according to the World Health Organization, Cuba provides a doctor for every 170 residents (ahead of the US where the ratio is 1 to 188)[9] and does fine on infant mortality and life expectancy rates.[10]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. On February 24, 2008 his brother Raúl Castro was "elected" as the new President.
  2. Negroponte Leads Group Urging Obama to Ease Cuba Embargo, Bloomberg
  3. Guillermo Farinas was released from prison to be hospitalised, despite the fact that he was using civil disobedience in an attempt to provoke reform. [1]
  4. Raúl Castro to allow Cubans more private sector jobs, The Guardian
  5. Health Situation Analysis and Trends Summary: Cuba, Pan American Health Organization
  6. An Evaluation of Four Decades of Cuban Healthcare, SUNY Buffalo
  7. BMA must voice its opposition to Cuban embargo, British Medical Journal
  8. Assembly Again Seeks Repeal of Extraterritorial Measures Like United States Helms-Burton Act Against Cuba, UN
  9. Medical know-how boosts Cuba's wealth, BBC News
  10. Country Comparison: Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy at Birth, CIA
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