Bernie Sanders recognizes Cuba’s
contributions in education and health

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders recognized Cuba’s role in sending doctors around the world, as well as progress in education
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Author: Web Editor | internet@granma.cu

February 25, 2020 09:02:35

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Bernie Sanders: Photo: Prensa Latina

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, now one of the strongest Democratic Party candidates for the November presidential election, recognized Cuba’s role in sending doctors around the world.

“It would be a mistake not to declare in Cuba that they have made some good progress in health care,” the 78-year-old politician admitted in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes program broadcast Sunday.

“They are sending doctors all over the world. They’ve made some progress in education,” said the Vermont senator who is running against Republican Donald Trump for the Nov. 3 presidential election.

As it turns out, presenter Anderson Cooper asked the current Blue Force nominee to explain his comments in 1985, when he praised some of the social programs implemented by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

According to a video clip from more than 30 years ago, the senator said at the time that Fidel Castro “educated the children, gave them medical care, totally transformed society.

Although he made it clear that his “socialism” is not that of Venezuela or Cuba and stressed that the kind of society he believes in is the kind that exists for him in countries like Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the legislator said it is “unfair to simply say that everything is wrong” on the island.

“When Fidel Castro took office, do you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program,” Sanders emphasized, referring to the cultural revolution that in just one year (in 1961) made it possible to eradicate illiteracy and provide universal access to the various levels of education free of charge in the Caribbean country.

On October 17, 1962, during the inauguration of the Victoria de Girón Institute of Basic and Pre-clinical Sciences in the Cuban capital, Fidel Castro announced the government’s decision to provide aid in the field of health and said that 50 doctors would be sent to Algeria.

“Today we can only send 50, but in eight or 10 years, who knows how many, and we will be helping our brothers,” the Cuban leader warned at the time.

Almost six decades later, more than 400,000 health workers from the Greater Antilles have carried out missions in some 164 countries, while with the same disinterest 35,613 health professionals from 138 nations have been trained on the island free of charge.

As expected, his comments provoked the anger of the most extremist sector of Cuban Americans in South Florida, who oppose any rapprochement with the Caribbean island.

In 2016, Sanders defended diplomatic relations with Cuba, which he said “will result in significant improvements in the lives of Cubans and help the United States.’

In addition, he has reiterated his position regarding the elimination of the blockade that both Republican and Democratic administrations have maintained for nearly six decades.

But watch out, warn observers, his praise must be viewed with caution, despite the fact that it differs from Trump.

By the way, during the televised program, Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, promised that if he becomes president he hopes to use the “federal government to protect the interests of working families.”

In that sense, he stated that in the United States the government works for the very wealthy and although without mentioning his name he said that the president of the United States is a pathological liar.

In early February, in his State of the Union address, the occupant of the Oval Office attacked Medicare for All, one of Sanders’ main proposals.

For the Republican, this health plan seeks to destroy American health care.

Recent polls show that Sanders continues to be unstoppable, winning comfortably in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses on Saturday, and increasing his support among Latino voters, second only to former Vice President Joseph Biden.

Source: Prensa Latina