Yesterday, the Cuban embassy held a briefing session on their recently held elections which took place in March. Cuba, with a population of just over 11 million, has a National Assembly of 470, with each member representing just about 30,000 people. This means constituents actually know their representatives. Their National Assembly is not full time; members remain on their work posts and run their normal life and simply go to parliament when it is in session. While the National Assembly is directly elected by the people, the president is elected indirectly, that is, by the National Assembly.
The high level of participation in the elections, 75 per cent, in a context of a deep economic crisis provoked by the American blockade was widely seen by both pro- and anti-government groups as a litmus test to gauge support for the Cuban leadership at this time. Once again, the message which seems to be the legendary resilience of both the people and government of Cuba remains strong. No wonder that the Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel hailed the vote as a “victory” for the Cuban people.
Cuba’s electoral system does not allow for opposition parties so most parliamentary candidates are members of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). Nonetheless, candidates still must receive 50 per cent of votes to be elected. Opposition groups, primarily outside of Cuba, had encouraged voters to stay home in protest, saying the election had no meaning in a one-party system with no formal opposition or international oversight. The people, apparently, did not listen to the advice.
Cuba is largely defined by the Castro legacy. Castro ran Cuba from 1959 to 2008 and died at the ripe age of 90 years surviving 634 assassination attempts on his life by American intelligence. That is why he is a legend when compared with the mere legendary cat with only nine lives. A combination of God, Marx and the people protected him and ensured he died a natural death due to old age. This is an edifying story but it is not really what the Fidel Castro Legacy is about.
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The first element of the Castro legacy is to believe in a set of principles and remain dogged in its pursuit in spite of massive threats to his life and his country. He called it simply the imperative of defending the revolution. The second element of the legacy is commitment to improving the lives of the people, not with ideology, but by developing science and technology to lift the level of people’s lives. The third element of the legacy is international solidarity with particular commitment to Africa. Way back in 1960, when France was trying to destroy Guinea because the people said no to colonialism, Castro and the Cuban government were providing support. By 1963, Cuba was providing medical assistance to Algeria. In the Liberation struggles of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Guinea Bissau, Cuba was with the people and many of their people died in the struggles. Their friendship with Africa has remained deep and sincere.
Cuba has survived a permanent trade embargo by the United States since 1960. Donald Trump raised the embargo to complete economic blockade when he was president and President Biden has so far not lifted it. Cuba’s friends over the decades such as the defunct Soviet Union and left governments in Latin America rose and fell but Cuba remained resilient and, on its feet, in spite of the reality of the economic impact of the measures taken against the country.
One of the most important elements of Cuba’s achievements is the long and illustrious history of the country in biotechnology and medical sciences. The country has the highest doctor to population ratio in the world of 8 to 1,000. It produces its vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and sends doctors all over the world on technical assistance missions.
Way back in January 2013, I published on this column an article entitled: “Lenin, the Cubans, Revolutionary Strategy and the Mosquito.” It was about a Cuban project to wipe out malaria throughout West Africa. The method is simple; the Cubans have invented a system of biolarvicides that will simply eat up the mosquito eggs and their Venezuelan comrades had proposed to fund the whole project as the last gift of Hugo Chavez to Africa before his death.
Each year, malaria kills 800,000 African children. Millions of working hours are lost to the disease each year and our medical facilities are inundated with those suffering from this preventable disease. Malaria is a central factor in the vicious cycle of the reproduction of poverty on the continent and it is for this reason that Cuba working with ECOWAS and the 15 countries in the region took up the issue of eliminating the vector that causes this devastating disease in our region.
In the western areas that suffered from mosquito infestation and malaria, the policy adopted was to eliminate the mosquitoes through the use of chemical insecticides such as DDT. These substances had a negative impact on the environment but the decision taken was that in spite of the negative impact, it was strategically in the interest of the countries concerned to eliminate the disease at whatever cost. The outcome is that today, malaria is a major problem only in the poorest areas in Africa and Asia.
Over the past two decades, billions of dollars have been invested by the West through the Global Fund, the Bill Gates Foundation and other agencies in the war against malaria. However, since 1995, the West has taken the decision that Africa must not eliminate malaria; it should only try to control it through insecticide-treated nets and anti-malaria drugs. Everybody knows that this approach can only reduce the problem and never solve it. The big question is why is the West so obstinately against the elimination of malaria and why is the United Nations system keeping quiet? Why can’t Africans dream about, but more importantly, work towards the complete elimination of malaria?
What is revealing about the present context is that science has developed to a stage where the technical capacity to eliminate malaria through the use of chemical larvicides is available. It was in this context that the Cubans intervened to develop effective and safe biolarvicides that can protect the environment and eliminate malaria. This technique has been successfully used to control malaria in Vietnam. In addition, microbial larvicides can be safely added to drinking water and in environmentally sensitive areas, as they do not persist or accumulate in the environment or in body tissues and are not toxic to animals and crops according to WHO.
The West, Bill Gates, the Global Fund are however resolutely against the strategy of elimination of the mosquito. It was Vladimir Lenin who explained that there are no morals in politics; there is only experience. The African experience over the past two decades is that the West is committed to reducing malaria but does not want it eliminated. ECOWAS therefore took the decision to listen to the Cubans and the Venezuelans offered to build production factories that will supply the agents. Then the Venezuelan economy crashed and the project died. My view is that Nigeria should have risen to the challenge and supplied the resources. Looking back, had the Cuban project been implemented starting from 2013, malaria would have been eliminated throughout West Africa by 2020. This is one of the challenges we need to place before the in-coming Nigerian president. It is imperative that this revolution succeeds, especially now that the World Health Organisation has accepted that the application of biolarvicides is ecologically sound, sustainable, safe and indeed recommended. Let us allow the Cubans to shame the West in Africa.
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