Translations 248
“They Saw Us As Gods”
BBC MUNDO
“They saw us as gods, today they see us as nothing”:
The difficult situation of thousands of Cuban doctors in Brazil after Bolsonaro’s arrival in power.
March 19, 2019
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The “More Doctors” program was launched in 2013 on the initiative of then-Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
The program “Formerly they saw us as gods, today they see us as nothing”.
Cuban doctor Yulia Molina Hernandez does not know what other doors to knock to get out of the situation in which she finds herself.
Molina arrived in Brazil five years ago as part of the international program “Mais Medicos” (More Doctors), an initiative launched in 2013 by then Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to facilitate basic medical care in disadvantaged and remote areas of the country.
Last November, Cuba announced its withdrawal from the program due to conditions imposed by the new president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
Cuba withdraws from the “More Doctors” program, for which it sent 8,000 doctors to Brazil. (Link to Spanish article not translated here.)
Brazil announces that it has “replaced” the thousands of Cuban doctors who left the country after the cancellation of the More Doctors program. (Link to Spanish article not translated here.)
The decision left more than 8,000 Cuban doctors facing the dilemma of returning to the island or staying in Brazil and being considered deserters by the Cuban government. Más Médicos” started in 2013 at the initiative of then-Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.
More than 2,500 chose to stay and now denounce the precariousness in which they find themselves: they cannot practice medicine and cannot find other types of jobs.
“You get tired of being exploited.”
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” doctor Surizaday Fernándezr, told BBC Mundo.
Cuban doctor Surizaday Fernández, 31, arrived in Brazil in August 2017. Photo: SURIZADAY FERNÁNDEZ
“You get tired of being exploited, in the end, you lose years of life, you lose time with your family, you lose a lot of things. I had made my decision.
Despite this, Fernandez, 31, was paralyzed when she learned that Cuba was withdrawing from the More Doctors program.
“I was walking and I was in shock, I didn’t know whether to go forward or backward. When Bolsonaro won, he knew that Cuba was going to pick us up, but I didn’t imagine it would be like that.
Fernandez then lived in Cunha Porã, a small municipality in the southern state of Santa Catarina, from where she moved to other municipalities to find employment.
There she began her odyssey, similar to that of many of her colleagues.
A Difficult Search
Following the announcement of Cuba’s withdrawal from the More Doctors program, Bolsonaro said Cuban doctors who wanted to stay in the country would receive asylum and could work as doctors if they re-validated their degree.
Joan Rodriguez is living with another Cuban doctor in the house of a Brazilian woman who does not charge them rent.
However, the reality is becoming much more complicated, as doctor Joan Rodriguez relates.
“I arrived in Brazil in June 2017 and I was working normally until the cancellation of the program. I got by for two months with the savings I had. At the end of last December, the Brazilian government created an edital, which is like a public announcement, to cover the 8,500 places that the Cuban government had taken out.
“We Cubans were able to register, but the day before we were able to apply for a place, our rights were terminated. We were told that we could go to the federal police in each state to ask for refuge.
“They gave us a paper, the request for refuge, with which we could go to the Ministry of Labor and ask for a job portfolio, which is like a permit to be able to work in Brazil,” he explains.
The job portfolio hasn’t been much use to him so far.
“When they realize that we are Cubans and that we were members of the More Doctors program, they close all our doors for work,” he laments.
The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, announced new conditions for the “More Doctors” program as soon as he won the presidential elections in his country.
“Many people, when they find out that we are doctors, tell us that they cannot offer us work because our hierarchical level is superior.
“We were doctors, yes, but today we are nothing, we are like anyone else, needing work in order to survive,” he says.
BBC Mundo tried to find out the position of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, but at the time of publication of this article, it did not receive a response.
Bad economic situation
Yulia Molina has hit the same obstacles as Rodriguez.
Yulia Molina (left) has not found a job in Brazil for two years.
Her story is similar to that of her colleagues, albeit with nuances. She did not leave the program when Cuba closed it, but two years ago because she was pregnant, with a threat of preterm pregnancy, and Cuba demanded that she return in that condition.
“Since I didn’t want to go back so as not to risk my life or that of my son, they gave me up as a deserter. Either you leave or you stay. That was the choice I was given, and I stayed,” Molina told BBC Mundo.
The 34-year-old doctor lives in the northeast of the country, where the economy is not at its best.
“The entry of money where I live is much poorer because things are much more expensive. What you buy in the south for a price, here they sell it to you for double. I haven’t worked in two years.
“I can’t find a job because I’m a doctor, I don’t care, I just want to work, ‘but you’re a doctor,’ they tell me.
“They are obstacles that face us, for no reason whatsoever. What there is xenophobia with any foreigner, not only with Cubans. Formerly they saw us as gods, today they see us as nothing,” she says.
Thousands of Cuban doctors packed their things and returned to Cuba after their country’s withdrawal from the international “More Doctors” program.
Molina considers herself lucky because at least her husband has a job. She says she knows many of her compatriots who are going through very delicate situations.
“I know cases of people living in a house to pay the rent, eating in the least healthy way possible, colleagues who are desperate, many thinking of going out in caravans.
Objective United States
The Cuban doctors with whom BBC Mundo spoke agree that the option of the title revalidation is practically unattainable. The main obstacle, they say, is that the Cuban government retains their documentation and without these papers, there is nothing they can do.
Returning to Cuba is out of the equation. Being considered deserters, these doctors cannot return to the island for another eight years. And even if the Cuban government decides to allow them to return as they expressed last February, the doctors fear the treatment they might receive.
Thus, Yulia Molina, Joan Rodriguez, Surizaday Fernandez and most of their paralyzed colleagues in Brazil have their sights set on the United States.
“Our future is very uncertain. We realize that we cannot stay in this country. At the beginning of January, Republican Senator Marco Rubio proposed reopening the U.S. the medical parole program that Obama closed in January 2017,” says Rodriguez.
Last January, Senators Marco Rubio (left) and Bob Menendez presented a motion for a resolution to reopen the Parole Program for Cuban Medical Professionals.
The parole the doctor is talking about is the Cuban Medical Professionals Parole Program (CMPP) which was launched in 2006 and which allowed Cuban medical personnel who were in other countries (i.e., not in Cuba or the United States) to apply for permission to enter a U.S. embassy or consulate.
On January 12, 2017, the U.S. and Cuba signed an agreement to normalize their migration policy relationship, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminated the CMPP.
Molina has the same hope as Rodriguez. “The only real alternative would be the opening of the parole that is what we are fighting for today. This is not a story, it’s not that we’re faking it. And it’s not that it’s going to get better, it’s that we don’t see a better future in Brazil.
Many of the Cuban doctors who stayed in Brazil are unable to find employment, even in other sectors.
For her part, Fernandez is clear that she is not going to stand idly by. “When I decided to stay out of Cuba, I decided to pull forward. I assumed I wouldn’t practice medicine for long, maybe never again,” she admits.
“I’m not going backwards or to gain momentum. Always in the hope that parole will open and have the opportunity, later, to do another formation. In the U.S. they have study programs, more possibilities of employment, of having a normal, dignified life.
“I studied six years that cost me my sacrifice, my effort and that of my family, no one else. I do not admit that a person comes to treat me as if I were garbage. I work in whatever is, in whatever touches me, but that is respected”.
New Technologies and Mental Health
Cuban Psychiatry Studies the Impact of Technologies on Mental Health
When Cuban society advances towards computerization as a priority, it turns out, in the opinion of Dr. Miriam de la Osa O´Reilly, head of the Psychiatry Service of the Hermanos Ameijeiras clinical-surgical hospital, that the theme chosen for the IX Cuban Congress of this specialty is very timely: Frontiers of Psychiatry and the Impact of New Technologies.
Author: Lisandra Fariñas Acosta | lisandra@granma.cu
14 March 2019 00:03:09
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Photo: Yaimi Ravelo
In the danger of living an excessively “connected” 21st century, and increasingly dependent on computers or cell phones, psychiatry finds new and enormous challenges, said Dr. Miriam de la Osa O´Reilly, head of the Psychiatry Service of the Hermanos Ameijeiras clinical-surgical hospital, to Granma during the first day of the 9th Cuban Congress on this specialty.
We are talking about behavioral addictions, which can range from distorting reality, showing dependence on devices to having communication and socialization problems, and even suicidal attitudes, all related to the misuse of mobile phones and different social networks on the Internet.
When Cuban society moves towards computerization as a priority, in the opinion of the specialist, the topic chosen for the appointment is very topical: Frontiers of Psychiatry and the Impact of New Technologies.
The congress, which seeks to be a space for reflection, scientific exchange and professional commitment, on a science that gains in maturity and experiences on the road to human improvement and well-being. It brings together more than 250 Cuban delegates and some twenty countries at the Havana Convention Center through Friday, March 15.
“We have tried to make the scientific program address the main problems of mental health in the population, while constituting an update on topics specific to this century. Among these are the advantages and dangers of using the Internet, but also the development of neurosciences and nanotechnology in psychiatry,” said the president of the organizing committee.
We communicate all the time, and there is a network like a highway, in which one can advance in time, distance, friends and knowledge is extraordinary. But that same goal implies, if not used properly, multiple dangers, she said.
That’s why psychiatry professionals insist, from the promotion of health and prevention of diseases, on being aware of the problems that so-called TICS can bring; an alert that involves the media and the rest of society, especially when Cuba connects more and more, insisted Dr. Osa O´Reilly.
Healthier contents should be placed in the social networks that are being created and in the existing ones. They should be directed to the well-being of people. At the same time, a critical reading of those messages that we consume daily is needed. And let’s not lose sight of what the smallest members of the household consume, she warned.
The young population is the most affected by this misuse, explained the specialist. And there are plenty of examples, ranging from nomophobia or fear of being without a mobile phone for a long time, the need to check it even when the person wakes up at dawn, to the controversial selfies, which have caused death in the search for new, exuberant places… and the construction of a virtual life in networks like Facebook, dissonant from reality and which can lead to depression.
The interviewee also mentioned other organic consequences of these addictions, such as vision disorders or orthopedic disorders, when adopting incorrect postures for a long time in front of a computer or mobile phone.
On the other hand, for Profesor de la Osa, in this technological era, the cornerstone of the specialty continues to be clinical training, she said.
Based in the capital, the 9th Cuban Congress of Psychiatry was extended in a group of pre-congress courses to the provinces of Artemisa, Santiago de Cuba and Holguín.
On the closing day this Friday, Doctor of Science Pastor Castell-Florit Serrate, director of the National School of Public Health of Cuba and president of the National Council of Scientific Health Societies, stressed that Cuba recognizes the complexity of mental health problems and their social determination, as well as the right of the population to it. In addition there’s to the provision of information and communication with patients and families, and to understanding and support until recovery and continuation of the life project.
Dr. Carmen Borrego, head of the Mental Health and Addictions section of the Ministry of Public Health, signified the high knowledge and responsibility of the professionals of this branch in Cuba, who work in a wide network of services in the country and exceed one thousand specialists.
The urgent need for a resistance front
from the left
The urgent need for a resistance front
If democratic forms of government have been subjected to the harshest tests in recent times, nowhere have they been so fiercely attacked and placed in such a serious disruption as in our America.
Author: Raúl Roa García | internet@granma.cu
November 4, 2018 22:11:08
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
“Peace is the supreme aspiration of the man who feels freedom as an imperative of conscience. Photo: Archive.
If democratic forms of government have been subjected to the harshest tests in recent times, nowhere have they been so ferociously attacked and placed in such a serious disruption as in our America. From south to north, military lodges, lords of the earth, merchants of power, wild oligarchies and big companies, in a sinister consortium, have been abolishing the fundamental freedoms of man and of the citizen, without the UN and the OAS giving them a break, The cynical adulteration of the popular will, or the violent substitution of constitutionally-elected governments by autocracies using typical totalitarian rhetoric, characterize this dramatic process, which threatens to be generalized to the whole continent.
Pseudo-Marxist fifth columnism and imperialist greed today lord it over a beam of invertebrate nations, at the mercy of unscrupulous swords, gamonales, politicians, bankers and businessmen. Scarce governments of popular roots, the majority undermined by administrative corruption, social imbalances, electoral demagoguery and colonial exploitation, complete this gloomy picture. There is no doubt that the fate of democracy is cast. The unavoidable urgency of forming a broad front of resistance to the unbridled aggressiveness of the enemies of popular liberties is obvious.
It is indisputable that the democratic conception of life, society and the state is consubstantial with the spirit and historical development of our peoples; but, no less, that conception is currently threatened by the most regressive and rapacious forces of our time.
The central question to be debated is how to galvanize the democratic regime, to the point of promoting, in the peoples, the passionate determination to defend it, at the price of life, in all contingencies and avatars. A democratic regime without economic content, without a broad social base and without the active participation of the people in the orientation of public power, is a useless piece of junk at this historic juncture of transition. There can be no room for circumlocutions or euphemisms.
The fundamental problem facing democracy at this time is how to organize society without compromising freedom. On a universal level, it is now imperative that democracy clearly distinguishes subjective rights from patrimonial rights. Questions concerning the human person can only be resolved with the “discovery and establishment of a fairer legal structure, which allows the problem to be reduced to its true terms”.
Economic rights can already exist only in function of society. No individual interest, which pretends to oppose the social interest, is legitimate. If we aspire for man to recover his “lost fertility” and to develop, to the full, his aptitudes and powers, it is indispensable to socially discipline things. The task ahead of the democratic movement is extremely complex.
In the particular case of our America, we have to count on what history has given us. In material and cultural terms, much progress has been made so far this century. Considering the process as a whole, we must agree, however, that the economic, social and administrative structure of the Latin American peoples is in need of a substantial transformation. This transformation must go hand in hand with respect for public liberties and an international policy of militant repudiation of all regimes that violate human dignity.
It should be insisted that only through clean elections, administrative honesty, public freedoms, economic welfare, social justice, diffusion of light and consolidation of sovereignty can the representative institutions in this hemisphere be saved. The opportunity is unique to provide content and historical projection to the fight against the American dictatorships.
The American states have acquired the commitment to guarantee freedom and justice to the peoples by signing the Charter of Human Rights in the UN Charter of the Rights and Duties of Man at the IX Inter-American Conference in Bogota.
Peace is the supreme aspiration of the man who feels freedom as an imperative of conscience. The role that the leaders of the working forces will play is of the first line. No one like them will be able to contribute the most urgent and effective formulas for social improvement to strengthen the democratic regime.
Nor can the problem of the industrialization of our America be uncontroversial. Increasing the economic potential of our peoples is one of the most effective means of strengthening and consolidating the democratic regime and of putting at bay the imperialists of every sign and of every bay.
The American states have made a commitment to guarantee freedom and justice to the peoples by signing the Charter of Human Rights in the UN Charter of the Rights and Duties of Man at the IX Inter-American Conference in Bogota.
Peace is the supreme aspiration of the man who feels freedom as an imperative of conscience. The role that the leaders of the working forces will play is of the first line. No one like them will be able to contribute the most urgent and effective formulas for social improvement to strengthen the democratic regime.
The problem of the industrialization of our America cannot be uncontroversial either. Increasing the economic potential of our peoples is one of the most effective means of strengthening and consolidating the democratic regime and of putting at bay the imperialists of every sign and every bay.
The way in which the most developed countries can contribute to this increase in our economic potential must be considered, in the light of this question: could governments that are representative and respectful of public liberties and those that are born of the usurpation of the will of the people and deny their governed the enjoyment of the essential rights of man and of the citizen, be placed on an equal footing with regard to this aid? Nor can the question of the recognition of de facto governments be ignored. On this matter ,there are no guidelines within the inter-American public law, nor unanimity of criteria in the chancelleries.
If democracy needs both America to overcome the deep crisis it is going through, it is essential that the policy of good neighborliness be effectively restored. After the death of Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, on many osions the “good guys have been us and the neighbors them. May the government of the people, by the people and for the people, cease to be the government in the name of the people, without the people and against the people! And may they live on an equal footing, in peace and harmony, the America of Juarez and the America of Lincoln!
(Excerpts taken from the book 15 años después [15 years later], Editorial Librería Selecta, Havana, 1950).
Venezuela Won the First Round
Venezuela Won the First Round Against the Empire
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
The clash between Venezuela and the Empire last weekend ended with a humiliating defeat for Elliott Abrams, the alleged designer of the operation.
What the neocons initially planned may never be known, but what is known is that they could not culminate in an invasion or another false flag operation.
The most notable facet of the confrontation, according to the most objective international experts and observers, has been the scant effect that Anglo-Zionist propaganda had inside Venezuela.
Although certainly a few senior officers and Venezuelan soldiers betrayed their country by uniting with the enemy, the overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan military remained faithful to the Constitution and their homeland.
President Maduro and his government successfully carried out a strategy that combined roadblocks, a musical concert on the Venezuelan side, and the minimal – but effective – use of riot police to keep the border closed and order throughout the homeland. Most notably, the “unidentified snipers” did not seem to shoot on both sides (the Empire’s favorite tactic to justify its interventions).
Outside Venezuelan national territory, this first confrontation was also a defeat for the Empire. Not only because most countries in the world refused to recognize Washington’s puppet, but because the level of rejection of a possible invasion proved remarkably intense, and the Internet and the blogosphere overwhelmingly opposed U.S. intervention. This situation created many internal political tensions in several Latin American countries whose public opinion is firmly opposed to any form of U.S. interference in Latin America, even if not with the historic oligarchy.
The leaders of the Empire and their puppets do not hide the fact that their goal is to overthrow the constitutional government and to replace it with the kind of regime that Washington seems to have been able to impose on Colombia. Pompeo, Abrams, Pence, Elliot Abrams and Marco Rubio were particularly hysterical in their threats, although the oligarchies (not so the peoples) of the “Lima Group” countries submissively abided by them.
Certain American politicians resorted to their usual childish language for threats in situations of gravity as an obvious show of contempt for their own population. For those bewildered because adult politicians used the language.
No one should be surprised when they claim that Maduro is a “new Hitler” who commits a “genocide” against his own people. Or that he is accused of using “chemical weapons”.
Last weekend’s military defeat of Venezuela’s self-appointed interim president, Juan Guaidó, has been publicly reproached by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The White House has attempted to evade responsibility for what its espionage and subversion agencies have been unable to achieve. They’d saught the adherence of an emblematic number of traitors from the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) to the action of the alleged coup plotters, and failed to get it. Pence reproached the supposed interim president of Venezuela for the failures suffered after his recognition last January 23, actions called to justify the military intervention designed by Washington.
Their main demand was against the support of the FANB for the legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro.
Guaidó had promised the U.S. government that if the majority of world leaders recognized him as president of Venezuela, at least half of the FANB officers would defect, which did not even remotely happen.
The U.S. official also questioned the uncommitted attitude of Venezuelan millionaires abroad who “were expected a more determined contribution of money to finance the bribery of police, military and politicians and their adherence to the Guaidó sphere, which did not happen either.
Important international decision-making centers allied to the Trump regime have warned that the Venezuelan opposition “could lose the momentum” that the U.S. supposedly provided with the sudden appearance of the puppet Guaidó. He certainly has not yet found territory to govern and perhaps would have to do so from Colombia or another nation whose government is not ashamed to cede a piece of its sovereignty to the United States.
March 4, 2019.
This article may be reproduced by citing the newspaper POR ESTO as the source.
Cuba Debuts “Gay-Friendly” Constitution
Cuba Debuts “Gay-friendly” Constitution or,
the Battle for LGBTI Rights Has Just Begun
by Francisco Rodríguez Cruz
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
With its ratification by a resounding majority of its citizens, Cuba gets the first Constitution in its history and one of the few in the world that explicitly supports the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.
But don’t tell anyone!
The new Magna Carta is the result of more than a decade of citizen and institutional activism for the sexual rights of LGBTI people, of progressive political and governmental work for comprehensive sexuality education, and of the growing overcoming of homophobia and transphobia among the Cuban population.
The contents that most directly express the gay-friendly character of the new constitutional text are:
It expressly proscribes and punishes by law discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other grounds (Article 42).
It recognizes the right of everyone to found a family, and protects all families, regardless of their form of organization (Article 81).
It deletes the previous definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, and conceptualizes it only as a social and legal institution, and one of the forms of family organization, which is based on free consent and the equal rights, obligations and legal capacity of the spouses (Article 82).
This 2019 Constitution, more than a goal, then, is a starting point.
Great trials will have to be faced in the future, in particular the process of popular consultation and referendum on the draft Family Code. Within two years from the entry into force of the Constitution, the Family Code will have to establish the way of constituting marriage, among other issues that concern LGBTI people very.
The convincing success of the YES in the constitutional referendum that we have just held does not mean that the great majority of Cubans understand, respect or support our rights as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.
On the contrary, the great lesson of the popular consultation and of some of the modifications that the draft Constitution underwent, as well as its interpretation, was that there are still many prejudices, much ignorance and even recalcitrant, retrograde and extremist positions in our population.
Such objections and resistances, deliberate or unconscious, do not exclude individuals or sectors that support the Revolution in other areas, and even occupy leadership responsibilities at different political or governmental levels of the country.
Nor does the defeat of the NO in the vote imply that among the minority that in one way or another showed its disagreement with the new Law of Laws there are no sensitive people, directly interested or sympathetic to the defense of LGBTI rights.
We will then have to promote, activate or recompose alliances, excuse grievances, appease hostilities and resentments, overcome disunity and strengthen strategies for working together among activists, organizations and institutions that advocate for free sexual orientation and gender identity.
It is also foreseeable that on this road towards the realization of such constitutional guarantees there will be controversies, conflicts and disagreements, including clashes and rebellions, questioning and injustices; advances, stagnations and setbacks, all of which should not discourage or discourage us from taking the necessary risks.
It will therefore be essential to deploy all our intelligence and responsibility, negotiation skills and capacity, maturity and political courage, so that we can ensure that this wonderfully advanced constitutional chrysalis spreads its multi-colored butterfly wings in specific laws that effectively regulate and guarantee our rights as LGBTI people.
February 25, 2019
Who is Paquito?
Photo by Jose Goitia
I am , also known as Paquito, from Cuba; I am a Marti follower and an author; I am a communist and gay journalist; I am a convinced and superstitious atheist; I am the father of a son whom I have adored and have been a partner for fifteen years with a seronegative man who loves me; I have been an AIDS patient since 2003 and am a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for more than twelve years; I am a university professor and a student of life; a follower of Cuban economic issues and a passionate devourer of universal literature; an incontinent and belligerent moderate; a friend of my friends and a compassionate friend of my enemies; often wrong and never repentant; a hardened and eternal enthusiastic optimist; alive and kicking; in short, another ordinary man who wants to share his story, opinions and desires with you…
Iran has grown in resistance
Iran has grown in resistance
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the United States, in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution
Author: Elson Concepción Pérez | mailto:internet@granma.cu
February 11, 2019 21:02:44
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
This economic war has been imposed on us, but we will stand,” said Hasan Rohani, Iranian president. Photo: AP
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the U.S., in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution.
There have been four decades in which significant advances have been made as a guarantee that its project looks towards the present and future, from the economic, scientific and peaceful nuclear development, among other achievements.
That February 11, 1979, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who had returned to the Persian country after 15 years in exile in Iraq, Turkey and France, became the leader of his nation until his death in 1989.
According to Ayatollah Ahmad Yanathi, the current president of the Assembly of Experts, “Khomeini succeeded in restoring the dignity of Islam and taught the population to fight against the humiliation of the West.
History recalls that, in 1951, Iran managed to establish the first democratically elected government and as leader held the post of Prime Minister, Mohamad Mosadeq, who nationalized the country’s oil industry.
Two years later, in 1953, the U.S. and British intelligence services staged a coup d’état and wiped out the popular government of the time and entrenched Mohamad Reza Pahlavi in power.
Today, the same enemy of that time – the governments of the United States and its ally Israel as a spearhead – maintains and increases the threats against the country and applies more and more economic sanctions with the aim of surrendering to the population.
An unprecedented and very characteristic event of the current US administration of Donald Trump was the unilateral break with the Nuclear Agreement signed by Iran and five other powers in 2015, considered one of the greatest achievements in international relations in recent decades.
In that imperial greed that takes no account of the people at all, National Security Advisor John Bolton assured last year that Iran would not celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Revolution, frankly threatening to reverse that nation’s revolutionary process.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, whose project in all orders has its vision in the autonomous development of the different fronts, including the military, exhibited during these days of celebration a long-range missile with a radius of 1 350 kilometers.
The Iranian Ministry of Defense presented the new cruise missile called Hoveize, manufactured locally and successfully tested, according to the ISNA news agency. The authorities claim that their missiles are only defensive and deterrent.
According to Hispantv, with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran designed great objectives such as economic independence, self-sufficiency, the creation of jobs and a standard of living for its citizens.
Among its achievements is the significant reduction of poverty in the country. In 1977, according to the World Bank, 46% of Iranians lived below the poverty line. This figure dropped to 8% in 2015, according to a World Economic Forum report.
Although Iran is ranked among the developing countries, it has made great strides in aerospace, becoming one of the pioneers in the field. In 2009, it launched its first home-made satellite, Omid, to join the small club of nine countries with such capacity.
Its scientific achievements also stand out in biotechnology. Genetic engineers have started important research in recent years, which has resulted in the production and export of dozens of biomedicines.
Iran is among the top ten countries in the world in stem cell research and technology. It has recorded great successes in animal cloning. It has also excelled in bone marrow transplantation, occupying the second position on the planet, after Italy, reported Hispantv.
The Persian country, undoubtedly, has made resistance a major reason, first to defeat their enemies and then to develop the people and make the nation self-sustainable.
An example of these days is the decision of Iran and Russia to use their national currencies in reciprocal exchange, which implies dispensing with the U.S. dollar.
Cuban doctors left in Brazil without a job
Cuban doctors left in Brazil without a job
The reality of the doctors who decided to stay in that South American nation is that they can no longer exercise their profession after the end of the More Doctors program.
February 5, 2019.
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Bolsonaro fails with his supposed promise. photo: reuters
Faced with the attempt by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to sully the work and honor of the Cuban doctors working in the More Doctors program, Cuba responded with customary dignity. The Ministry of Public Health announced the withdrawal of our doctors.
The decision implied the return to Cuba of the more than 8,000 doctors working in Brazil on the program that began in August 2013.
Since his election in October 2018, Bolsonaro repeatedly attacked Cuba and the More Doctors program.
In addition to repeating his questioning of the quality and training of Cuban professionals and requiring them to carry out an examination to revalidate their degrees. Bolsonaro was thus undertaking it against the PAHO-Brazil-Cuba agreements.
Of the 8,332 professionals who were in Brazil, the majority decided to return to the Island, the dignified gesture of the Cuban doctors awakened the admiration of the world and made visible once again the validity of the internationalist character of the Cuban Revolution.
But what has been the fate of the Cuban doctors who stayed in Brazil?
A paper published by EFE on February 3 describes the desperate situation in which Cuban doctors find themselves in the face of unfulfilled promises and the latent reality of a system that is not interested in the health of the poorest and that used them as a disposable tool in the machinery of manufacturing lies and manipulation.
According to EFE, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, the doctors who did not return to the island after the end of the More Doctors program can no longer practice their profession in the South American country.
Some of those who stayed were granted the status of “refugees”, so as not to lose their status as residents and be able to obtain a job portfolio, “a procedure that takes time while they do not receive any income”.
The hope of re-entering Más Médicos as a way to obtain the necessary employment is fading, “to achieve this they must wait at the end of a long line, because the competition launched by the government to fill the vacancies made Brazilian doctors a priority.
Initial applications surpassed the number of vacancies, 8,517, but there are some 800 not filled because “some of the Brazilian doctors chosen gave up their positions because they were in areas that were difficult to access or lacked resources.
Meanwhile, the Cuban doctors who remained in Brazil are trying to obtain one of the 800 places, as soon as they have the right to access the competition, a possibility that has been delayed time and time again.
Getting a job in “anything” becomes the only possibility, the other is waiting for a revalidation exam to be held in order to compete in the labor market on equal terms with Brazilians, but the bad news is that since 2017 there are no exams, it can take years for one to be called.
WAR AGAINST THE CHINESE ECONOMIC MODEL
WAR AGAINST THE CHINESE ECONOMIC MODEL
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
The growing hostility of Western governments towards China has more to do with the interests of Western investors than with legitimate security fears, according to Stephen Gowans, a Canadian political analyst, who regularly publishes in the Voltaire Network, Global Research and other progressive media.
The U.S. National Defense Strategy for 2018 ranks China at the top of the world’s external threats to the United States, even above Russia, North Korea, Iran, and “various terrorist groups with global reach”.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo describes China as the “great long-term threat to the United States” and the Trump administration, according to the Washington Post, considers China to be “the real enemy.”
What has China done to deserve so many “distinctions”? The answer –according to Gowans– is that China has developed a state-led economic model that limits the profit opportunities of the U.S. investors and defies their control over high-tech economic sectors that include artificial intelligence and robotics, which are essential to U.S. military supremacy.
“Washington is immersed in a multi-faceted war to prevent Beijing from going ahead with plans to become world leader in10 broad areas of technology, including information technology, aerospace and electric vehicles”. Washington seeks to “curtail China’s plans to develop advanced technology ” and “force China to allow US companies to sell their products and operate freely” in China, in conditions that will allow the United States to maintain its economic and military supremacy.
For its part, “China seeks to alter a global economic system that only allows them to manufacture t-shirts while the US is in charge of high-tech productions,” according to Yang Weimin, senior economic advisor to Chinese President Xi Jinping. But now Xi is “determined to have China dominate its own microchips, systems, and other basic technologies” in order to become “technologically self-sufficient.”
But self-sufficiency in industries such as aerospace, telecommunications, robotics and artificial intelligence means taking China –a huge market– out of the scope of US high-tech companies.
In addition, given that the supremacy of the West has always depended on technological superiority, China’s efforts to challenge the monopoly of high technology directly generate a renewed challenge to Washington’s capacity to utilize the Pentagon as an instrument to obtain advantages in trade and investment opportunities for U.S. entrepreneurs.
China’s economic model is called state capitalism or “market socialism.”
Both terms refer to the two defining factors of the Chinese model: the presence of markets, for materials, products and labor force, and the role of the State, in charge of the industrial planning and corporate ownership.
The “pillar of the economy” is made up by the more than 100,000 state-owned enterprises of China. The State has a strong presence in the higher echelons of the economy.
“Key sectors, such as banking, are dominated by companies controlled by the State”. State-owned enterprises “represent about 96% of the telecommunications industry, 92% of energy and 74% of automobiles”.
Beijing is the largest shareholder of the country’s 150 largest companies.
The state National Commission of Development and Reform is in charge of industrial planning. The Commission uses a variety of means to foster Chinese industry in key sectors, and develops plans to give preferential treatment to Chinese companies in strategic areas.
Beijing is counting on state-owned companies to become leaders in semiconductors, electric vehicles, robotics and other high technology sectors and finances them by means of subsidies and funding by state-owned banks.
The Planning Commission also guides the development of steel, photovoltaic energy, high-speed trains and other critical industries.
Beijing has closed the door to foreign ownership in sectors it considers strategic or vital to national security. These include “finance, defense, energy, telecommunications, railways and ports”, as well as steel.
All the steel companies are state owned and are all financed by state owned banks.
In total, China has restricted or closed foreign investment in 63 sectors of its own economy, such as stem cell research, education and training, satellites, prospection and exploitation of numerous minerals, the media, as well as research institutes in the humanities and social sciences.
January 24, 2019.
A FORECAST OF DONALD TRUMP’S FIASCO IN VENEZUELA
A FORECAST OF DONALD TRUMP’S FIASCO IN VENEZUELA
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
In late November, President Donald Trump announced that Washington had withdrawn its recognition of Nicolas Maduro as the President of Venezuela, and has now given it to the Head of the National Assembly in contempt, José Guaido.
In this way, the United States will openly support the regime change in Caracas This has been the dream of the Neo-cons for a long time and can become a nightmare for Trump.
“Why does the American President act like this?” Ronald “Ron” Paul wonders on his blog. Paul, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, member of the Republican Party and former representative to the House in the U.S. Congress, who holds the largest record of conservative votes for a representative in Congress since 1937.
He has been called the “intellectual godfather” of the Tea Party. He has achieved notoriety for his libertarian positions on many political issues, often clashing with the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties. Paul has run for the Presidency three times: in 1988 as candidate of the Libertarian Party, and in 2008 and 2012 as a Republican.
“According to the U.S. State Department, the Administration is acting to help enforce the Venezuelan Constitution… As if the Administration were so anxious to enforce its own Constitution!” Paul ironically wrote on January 29.
It’s also ironic that Trump — a president who has spent his first two years in office fighting accusations that a foreign country interfered in U.S. elections– not only meddles in a foreign election, but also grants himself the right to appoint the president of a foreign country.
“How would we react if the Chinese and the Russians decided that President Trump is not upholding the U.S. Constitution and recognized Nancy Pelosi as President of the United States?” asks Paul.
Even those who would like to see a change of government in Venezuela should reject any notion that such change must be “helped” by the United States. According to news reports, Vice President Mike Pence was so involved in Venezuelan internal affairs that in fact he urged Guaido to name himself president and pledged America’s support. This is not just foolish but also very dangerous. A Venezuelan civil war would result in massive death and even more economic misery.
Regime change has long been the U.S. policy for Venezuela. The United States has been waging an economic war against it practically since Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, was first elected in 1998. The objective of the U.S. sanctions and other measures against Venezuela and other countries targeted by Washington’s is to make life so miserable for the average citizen that it would make them stand up and throw out their leaders. But, of course, once they do, they must replace those leaders with someone approved by Washington.
“Remember,” writes Paul,” after the “Arab Spring” in Egypt, when the people rose up and overthrew their leader, the “wrong” candidate was then elected. The army moved and deposed the elected president and replaced it with one approved by Washington. The then Secretary of State, John Kerry, called that “restoring democracy.”
“It’s tragicomic,” says Ron Paul, “that Trump appointed the convicted criminal Elliot Abrams, as his key person to “restore democracy” in Venezuela. Abrams played a key role in the Iran-Contras scandal and became one of the main architects of the disastrous U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. His role in the promotion of the horrible violence in Latin America in the decade of the 1980’s should disqualify him from returning to any public office.
“Instead of this coup d’état, a better policy of ours to relate to Venezuela in the last 20 years should have been one of commitment and trade. If we really believe in the superiority of a free market system, we must also believe that we can only preach by example, not by forcing our system on others,” stresses Paul.
Just four months ago, President Trump said at the UN that he respected “the right of every nation to practice its own customs, beliefs and traditions. The United States cannot tell others how to live, work or worship. In return, we should only ask respect for our sovereignty.”
“Unfortunately, it seems that these were just empty words. We know from what happened in Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. that this will not end well for Trump… or for the United States. We must leave Venezuela in peace!” concludes Ron Paul whom no one can accuse of being a defender of Socialism.
January 31, 2019.
U.S. PLANS AGAINST CARACAS ARE WORSE
U.S. PLANS AGAINST CARACAS ARE WORSE
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
“Contrary to what Venezuelans believe, the objective of the United States is not to overthrow President Maduro but to apply in the “Caribbean Basin” the Rumsfeld-Cebrowski doctrine, and to destroy the state structures in the countries of the region. This requires the elimination of Nicolas Maduro, but also of Juan Guaidó”.
That’s how Thierry Meyssan, founding president of the Damascus-based Voltaire Network, and a brilliant specialist on Middle East topics, sees it.
This scheme was already used in 2011 to make the internal issues that took place in Syria appear as an external aggression perpetrated by an army of mercenaries.
In the case of Venezuela, the Organization of American States (OAS) — known around the world as the Yankee Ministry of Colonies, and whose Secretary General immediately recognized Guaidó as President – undertook the role that the Arab League had in the case of Syria. The role of the so-called Friends of Syria’s (which in fact were of Washington’s) was played by the Lima Group, also under U.S. control.
Burhan Ghalioun, an old collaborator of the American National Endowment for Democracy ( NED), played the part of leader of the opposition in Syria. He was soon replaced by another little character, who, in turn, was replaced by another, then by another, and again for yet another; so many times that no one remembers their names anymore. You can assume that Juan Guaidó will be quickly discarded in the same way.
But the Syrian scheme of the United States worked only in part because: in the first place, Russia and China opposed it in the UN Security Council repeatedly; secondly, because the Syrian people supported their government and gave evidence of exceptional resistance; and, finally, because Russia managed to support and equip the Syrian Arab Army in time for its confrontation with NATO and the foreign mercenaries.
It is known that Washington, knowing that the Pentagon will not be able to continue using the jihadists to weaken the Syrian state, is now proposing to place the Syrian case in the hands of the U.S. Treasury Department who, in turn, will do everything possible to prevent the reconstruction of the Syrian country and state.
The idea is for the self-proclaimed Interim President Guaidó to head a parallel administration that focuses its objective on: obtaining oil money in various lawsuits; “settles” the territorial dispute with Guyana; “satisfactorily” negotiates the question of refugees; “agrees” with Washington on all the foreign policy issues, and manages to imprison in the United States the Venezuelan Chavista leaders under various pretexts.
Based on the experience of the last eight years in the Middle East, what is happening in Venezuela cannot be compared with what happened in Chile in 1973. The United States was then trying to control the Americas and close the way to all forms of Soviet Union influence. They wanted to exploit the natural riches of that part of the world, leaving the least possible control in the hands the national governments… at the lowest attainable cost.
Today, on the contrary, the United States persists in considering the world as uni-polar. It has no friends or enemies. According to its vision, every population integrated into the globalized economy or living in a territory that has natural resources that the United States wants to control (not necessarily exploit immediately), these must be under the shared control of the Pentagon in the nations where they are located.
Therefore, Washington is trying to prevent the proper functioning of the state structures of those countries.
“It is possible that Juan Guaidó believes he is really capable of solving the crisis and serving his country by proclaiming himself interim president. But in fact it would actually have the opposite effect, because it would create a situation similar to a civil war. He, or his successors, will ask for help from Brazil, Guyana and Colombia, which will deploy “peace keepers” with support of Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. And the violence would continue until entire cities are in ruins.
It doesn’t matter if the Venezuelan government is Bolivarian or liberal, whether their relations with Washington are good or not. The goal is not to achieve a “regime change” as in Syria, but to weaken the Venezuelan state as much as possible. That process would begin in Venezuela and immediately extend to other countries in the region –such as Nicaragua– until there remains no real political power in the region as a whole”, predicts Thierry Meyssen.
“This situation is very clear for many Arabs whose countries already fell into that trap. But now, it does not seem to be seen with enough clarity in Latin America”, warns the expert.
“Of course, it is also possible that Venezuelans may become aware of the manipulation, put aside their divisions and save their country,” concludes Meyssen.
January 28, 2019.