A Macabre Assault on the Poor

"A Macabre Assault on the Poor"
Alberto N Jones
April 10, 2011

On August 11, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security announced, in conjunction with the Department of State, that it would allow Cuban medical personnel conscripted to study or work in a third country under the direction of the Cuban government, to enter the United States under a new program known as the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) program.

Among the aspects contained in its guidelines are:

• What is the statutory authority that allows the Department of Homeland Security to parole Cubans into the United States?
• How does Cuban Medical Professional qualify for consideration of parole?
• Who are Cuban Medical Professionals?
• Are family members eligible to enter the United States under CMPP?
• What should interested persons be required to submit?

Although there are precedents of similar despicable attacks against the Cuban people such as, the Peter Pan Program which literally kidnapped 14,000 teenagers out of Cuba in the early sixties and the revolting efforts to keep six year old, shipwreck Elian Gonzalez against the wishes of his father and grandparents in Miami, most refused to believe, that such a revolting conspiracy could be enacted forty years later.

Once this sinister plan began to yield its first fruits, Cuban medical professionals who had defected from a number of countries in the Caribbean, Latin America or as far as Namibia and South Africa, were regularly presented as Olympic trophy to the media in Miami.

Most if not all of the new emigrants, expressed their profound gratitude to the United States government and to the Cuban-American Congressional delegation, headed by the Diaz-Balart’s brothers and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who made their journey to freedom possible.

Because I was born and lived in a thatched roof hut without electricity, running water, sewer, jobs, schools or healthcare in Banes, our Cuban Soweto, I could relate easily to the harm that was being done to the poorest and weakest of the world.

Independent, reputable institutions such as the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, MEDICC, ex President Bill Clinton and others, have written tens of reports, which reflects how tens of millions of people in four continents have received clinical, surgical, maternal, dental, physical rehabilitation, genetic, eye surgery, immunizations, high tech diagnosis and others, free of charge.

Horrified by this criminal enticement of Cuban healthcare workers around the world with all sorts of inducements for them to abandon their patients and migrate to the US and become part of the American way of life with all of its wealth, glamour and freedoms, led me to publish "A Monstrous and Wicked Worldwide Attack on the Poor" 3/11/07.

Although hard figures are not readily available of the success or not of this well funded project, some reports suggests that between 1000-1500 physicians and 3 times as many other healthcare professionals have joined and most are living in south Florida.

The other tragic side of this horror story, is that once these professionals arrive in the United States, the ringleaders are no where to be found and then it is when they are confronted with the intractable American Medical Association or AMA requirements, Florida Medical Association and the State Regulatory Institutions with their near insurmountable legal barriers, regulations, boards exam, language barrier, hospital residence, financial supports, living quarters etc., which many have not been able to overcome in 10 or 15 years of struggle, frustration and bitterness.

Granted that no job should be seen as demeaning, it is nevertheless heartbreaking to see highly qualified and respected professionals, researchers, professors in Cuba, working as cashiers at supermarkets, pizza parlors, driving trucks, phlebotomists, nurse’s aide or elder care, taking orders from people with 1/10 of their education.

The US Department of State has proven once again, its absolute ignorance of historical facts and an ingrained recidivist character flaws. In 1962 and in order to create havoc, this department orchestrated the migration of 3500 physicians out of a total of 6000 in Cuba, which failed to bring down the Cuban healthcare system.

And today, when Cuba boosts over 80,000 physicians and can offer their service in close to eighty countries around the world, they childishly come up with the same poorly cooked, ill conceived, repetitive trick, which in the best case scenario; have been able to lure 1 or 2% physicians, as opposed to over 50% in 1962.

An article entitled "Hush, Hush the Scandal: US Program against Cuban Medical Assistance," Ichirino worldpress.com 4/3/11 just adds to other failures in the month of April, in which the US have tried to bring the Cuban people to their knees.