Cuban Doctors' 'Departure' Obscures Sanctions-Fueled Malnutrition
📰 THE STORY: The Financial Times reports that the reduced deployment of Cuban doctors in Venezuela is siphoning off 'vital revenue' from Havana, implying an internal economic challenge for Cuba stemming from a declining 'health-for-oil' agreement. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The US embargo on Cuba, initiated in 1960 under the Eisenhower administration and codified in
1962, has aimed to 'bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.' For over 60 years, this policy has directly constrained Cuba's ability to earn foreign currency through traditional trade, making medical diplomacy a crucial economic lifeline. The FT frames this as a Cuban revenue problem, rather than a direct consequence of a deliberate US program of economic strangulation designed
to collapse the state. Double Standard: Western media routinely demonizes Cuba's medical internationalism as 'human trafficking' or 'modern slavery' when deployed in Venezuela or Brazil, citing doctors' wages and working conditions. Yet, the same outlets laud organizations like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) or other Western-funded NGOs operating in hardship zones, where foreign doctors often earn
salaries vastly superior to local counterparts, with no such moral outrage or calls for sanctions against their funding nations. The 'humanitarian' concern vanishes when the source isn't an adversary. Follow the Money: The article presents Cuba's medical missions as primarily a revenue stream, which they are, out of necessity. However, it fails to connect this directly to the direct economic