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.
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
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Another novelty introduced by the campaign of Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in his bid to win voters for his candidacy is the complaint made about the sad role of candidates and the media interested in sharpening antagonisms between candidates based on purely personal or trivial matters instead of focusing on the real issues of the country.
In a speech he gave in Santa Barbara, California recently, Sanders called on the media to be objective when reporting on his campaign.
“I have a problem with the New York Times, because, from the first day, it has been trying to ignore my campaign and has been very negative toward it.”
“Our campaign is aimed at defeating Secretary Clinton regarding real problems. I want to break up the big banks, she does not. I want to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; she wants $12 an hour. I voted against the war in Iraq, she voted for the war in Iraq. I think we should ban fracking, she does not.”
“I think we should establish a tax on coal and aggressively address the problems of climate change, which is not her position. Those are some of the issues for which I am campaigning …”
“The New York Times interviewed a handful of people, made a report and published it on the front page. These are problems to the New York Times but not my campaign.”
Sanders has argued that for the Democrats to win against Trump in November, “they would have to meet the needs of workers, confront Wall Street, confront greedy US corporations, and then also face the communications media.”
Pressed by a reporter for an opinion on the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email practices when she was Secretary of State, Sanders said that Americans are tired of such issues in the political debate.
“I think the media and candidates need to talk about the reasons that cause the decline of the middle class, and about why we have such high levels of income and wealth inequality.”
Certainly, in California, Sanders addressed very tangible issues such as the rights of agricultural workers, of President Obama’s deportation policy which divides immigrant families, the drought that has lasted for years, and other local issues such as the poisoned groundwater that causes asthma and birth malformations.
As reported by CNN, Sanders was introduced to a crowd in Bakersfield by the son of the popular Chicano farmworkers labor leader Cesar Chavez, who said that, if his father were alive, he would be a follower of Sanders. Right away, other supposed or real relatives of Cesar Chavez appeared to deny this, but Sanders’ campaign did not pay attention to this kind of problem.
Sanders told his supporters in the Central Valley community that there was still much to be done to help agricultural migrant workers. He said he had “no doubt that, just as here in the valley, agricultural workers are exploited throughout the country”.
He asserted that when they are paid very low wages, when they are exposed to pesticides, and when the tap water they get is not drinkable, responsibility lies with the corporations which own the farms and the corporations that buy the products of these farms.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, told The [UK] Guardian, one day before the California primary, that he was convinced that the possibilities for the Vermont senator were remarkable, because he had demonstrated his capacity to mobilize the masses in these big events just by his presence, as he did with his surprising victory in the Michigan primary when the polls had placed him ten points behind.
What everyone overlooks is that, although Secretary Clinton obviously has accumulated a substantial advantage, there is an incredible source of support for the senator which has not yet come to light in the process. Senator Sanders’ type of intensive campaign has actually moved many voters, said Weaver.
Even if it does not achieve the ultimate goal of winning the Democratic nomination to the White House for Sanders, his successful and surprising campaign has cast doubt on many myths and taboos about the political thinking of ordinary Americans. In reality, they are products of circumstantial situations that have opened spaces to fascism in the United States and have left deplorable footprints in the history of that great nation.
June 7, 2016.
Por Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Otra novedad introducida por la campaña del precandidato presidencial del partido demócrata Bernie Sanders en su puja por ganar votantes para su candidatura es la denuncia que ha hecho acerca del triste papel de los aspirantes y medios más interesados en agudizar los antagonismos entre candidatos en aspectos puramente personales o triviales en vez de centrarse en los problemas reales de la nación. En un discurso que formuló en Santa Barbara, California, Sanders llamó a los medios de prensa a ser objetivos al reportar sobre su campaña. “Tengo un problema con el New York Times, porque desde el primer día ha estado tratando de desentenderse de mi campaña y ha sido muy negativo respecto a ella”.
“Nuestra campaña está dirigida a derrotar a la secretaria Clinton respecto a los problemas reales. Yo quiero destrozar los grandes bancos, ella no. Quiero aumentar el salario mínimo a $15 la hora, ella quiere $12 la hora. He votado contra la guerra en Irak, ella votó por la guerra en Irak. Creo que deberíamos prohibir el fracking, ella no. Pienso que debemos fijar un impuesto sobre la hulla y tratar agresivamente los problemas del cambio climático, lo que no es la posición de ella. Ésos son algunos de los temas por los que estoy haciendo campaña…
El New York Times entrevista a un puñado de personas, hace un reportaje y lo publica en primera plana; esos son problemas para el New York Times pero no los de mi campaña.” Sanders ha sostenido que para que los demócratas puedan ganar contra Trump en noviembre, “tendrían que atender a las necesidades de los trabajadores, enfrentar a Wall Street, enfrentar la codicia de las corporaciones estadounidenses, y luego enfrentar incluso a los medios de comunicación.”
Presionado por un periodista para que opinara sobre la investigación del FBI acerca de las prácticas de correo electrónico de Hilary Clinton cuando era Secretaria de Estado, Sanders opinó que los estadounidenses están cansados de ese tipo de elementos en el debate político. “Creo que los medios de comunicación y los candidatos tienen que hablar sobre las razones que provocan que esté en decadencia la clase media y acerca de por qué tenemos tan grandes niveles de desigualdad del ingreso y la riqueza”.
Ciertamente, en California Sanders ha abordado cuestiones muy tangibles de los derechos de los trabajadores agrícolas, de la política de deportación del Presidente Obama que divide las familias inmigrantes, de la sequía que se sufre hace años y temas locales como los de aguas subterráneas envenenadas que provocan asma y defectos congénitos.
Según informó la CNN, Sanders fue presentado a una multitud en Bakersfield por el yerno del popular líder de los trabajadores agrícolas chicanos Cesar Chávez, quién manifestó que si éste siguiera vivo, sería un seguidor de Sanders. Enseguida aparecieron otros supuestos o verdaderos parientes de Cesar Chávez a negar que tal habría sido la actuación del citado fallecido dirigente de los trabajadores agrícolas, pero la campaña de Sanders no prestó oídos a este tipo de problema.
Sanders dijo a sus partidarios en la comunidad de Valle Central que todavía había mucho por hacer para ayudar a los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes. Manifestó que “no tenía duda alguna de que al igual que aquí en el valle, son explotados los trabajadores agrícolas en todo el país”.
Aseveró que cuando se les pagan salarios muy bajos, cuando son expuestos a pesticidas y el agua que sale de sus llaves no es potable, la responsabilidad recae en las corporaciones que son dueñas de las granjas y las corporaciones que les compran sus productos a esas granjas.
Jeff Weaver, Director de la campaña de Sanders, dijo al diario The Guardian un día antes de las primarias de California que estaba convencido de que las posibilidades que aún tenía el senador de Vermont eran notables, porque él había demostrado capacidad de movilizar a las masas en esos grandes eventos tan solo con su presencia, como lo hizo con su sorpresiva victoria en las primarias de Michigan cuando las encuestas lo situaban detrás por diez puntos. “Lo qué todo el mundo pasa por alto es que, aunque la Secretaria Clinton obviamente ha acumulado una sustancial ventaja, hay una increíble fuente de apoyo para el senador que aún no ha salido a relucir en el proceso. Un tipo de campaña intensiva como la del Senador Sanders realmente mueve muchos votantes, subrayó Weaver.
Aunque no alcanzara el objetivo supremo de llevar a Sanders a la candidatura demócrata para la Casa Blanca, su tan exitosa como sorprendente campaña ha logrado poner en duda muchos mitos y tabúes acerca del pensamiento político del estadounidense común que son en realidad productos de coyunturas circunstanciales que abrieron espacios al fascismo en Estados Unidos y han dejado lamentables huellas en la historia de esa gran nación.
Junio 7 de 2016.
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The electoral race that is just beginning in the United States will go down in the history of that nation as a unique scenario of extreme candidacies within the restricted political parameters characterizing these processes in the country that proclaims itself the champion of democracy on the planet.
The first to raise the alarm when presenting his entry for nomination was the Republican Party billionaire Donald Trump, with an impressive spontaneous support from the ranks of that party to a sort of fascistic program defended with semi-populist tricks.
In the first months of campaigning, Trump left behind the most prominent figures among the Republican Party candidates, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush –son and brother of presidents of the United States– and several senators, governors and outstanding figures in politics and finance.
Only the Donald Trump phenomenon, and the evidence of the serious dangers a presidency of such a disturbing character could bring to the United States (whose ascent is considered possible considering the election to the White House of other no less fearsome “great men” namely Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Jr.) have been able to conceal the significance of the rise of the possibilities of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
Having emerged from the slums of New York’s Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders has come to offer US citizens nothing less than an invitation to join him in a political revolution that would restrain the billionaire class which possesses all the wealth.
Sanders suddenly became the sole US politician advocating a real change in national and foreign policies since the Cold War and, using an unusual language, despite being a veteran politician 74 years of age –the oldest of all pre-candidates– has become the voice of the youth in this election.
The fact that the political discourse of an old man appeals so strongly to young people confirms that it is not the form of his message but, definitely, its content. Sanders proposes nothing less than to end nearly four decades of neo-liberal policies implemented by both parties within the country that leads capitalism in the world.
He promises a change in the relationship between his country and Puerto Rico and all of Latin America. This means ending all forms of interference in the internal affairs of its neighbors. As well, he’s for ending support to dictatorships which caused the many disappearances and torture of fighters for change that reached a peak during Operation Condor . In the 1970s and 1980s, this program carried out actions with the leaders of dictatorial regimes in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador with overall US coordination.
Particularly interesting is the fact that the surprising support to a US political shift to the left, this time comes not only from young students, immigrants and workers outside the “establishment” –as in the 1960 and at other times in the history of the nation– but is strong in other age groups of citizens fully inserted in the “establishment”.
Sanders condemns the greed of Wall Street, the corruption of the electoral and political systems, and the theft of the future young people and workers in the U.S.
His message has awakened memories of glorious struggles for equality, civil rights, labor and immigrants rights.
Sanders has been ignored or attacked by the corporate media, by experts and by the leadership of his own party, but almost always has managed to stun the great corporate media and the opponents who have predicted his debacle, remaining as a real option since he launched his campaign last year until now.
For those who know that the average US American has little political awareness. This is a result of the intense pressure exercised by the “establishment” in this area, and so it will come as an extraordinary surprise that, with a platform like that offered by Bernie Sanders, an aspiring figure as a candidate for the White House, he could reach beyond the first internal debates of the party that sponsors him in a country so dominated by Wall Street and the military complex.
It is surprising that, within a population that until so recently feared the word socialism, support for Sanders has reached so high.
April 15, 2016.
Por Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
La carrera electoral que apenas comienza en Estados Unidos pasará a la historia de esa nación como escenario singular de candidaturas extremas dentro de la restringida oferta política que caracteriza estos procesos en el país que se autoproclama campeón de la democracia en el planeta.
Quien primero alarmó al presentar sus cartas como aspirante a la candidatura por el partido republicano fue el multimillonario Donald Trump, con un imponente respaldo espontáneo de las filas de esa formación política a un programa de corte fascista defendido con mañas casi populistas.
Trump dejó atrás, en los primeros de meses de campaña, a las más destacadas figuras aspirantes del partido republicano, entre las cuales estaban el ex gobernador de la Florida Jeb Bush -hijo y hermano de presidentes de Estados Unidos-, y varios senadores, gobernadores y figuras prominentes de la política y las finanzas.
Sólo el fenómeno de Donald Trump y la evidencia de los graves peligros que derivarían para Estados Unidos de la presidencia de un personaje tan tremebundo (cuya ascensión es considerada posible a partir de las de otros “prohombres” no menos temibles llegados a la Casa Blanca como Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan y George W. Bush, Jr,) ha sido capaz de encubrir la trascendencia del ascenso de las posibilidades del candidato demócrata Bernie Sanders.
Surgido en las barriadas pobres del Bronx neoyorquino, Bernie Sanders, ha venido a ofrecer a los estadounidenses nada menos que una invitación a que lo acompañen en una revolución política que frene a la clase multimillonaria poseedora de todas las riquezas.
Sanders se convirtió así, de pronto, en el único político
estadounidense que propugna un cambio real, tanto en política nacional como extranjera desde la posguerra fría y se presentó con un lenguaje inusitado que, pese a provenir de un político veterano de 74 años de edad – el más viejo de todos los precandidatos-, se convirtió en la voz de los jóvenes en estas elecciones.
El hecho de que el discurso de un anciano atraiga fuertemente a los jóvenes, es garantía de que no se trata de la forma de su mensaje sino, definidamente, de su contenido.
Sanders ofrece nada menos que poner fin a casi cuatro décadas de políticas neoliberales aplicadas por ambos partidos, dentro del país que encabeza el capitalismo en el mundo.
Promete un cambio de la relación de su país con Puerto Rico y con toda América Latina, lo que implica poner fin a toda forma de intromisión en los asuntos internos de sus vecinos, al apoyo a las dictaduras y a tantas desapariciones y torturas de luchadores por el cambio que se hicieron extremas durante la Operación Cóndor que concertó acciones entre las cúpulas de los regímenes dictatoriales de Chile, Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, con coordinación general de Estados Unidos, en las décadas de 1970 y 1980.
Esta coordinación general consistió –según documentos oficiales en “el seguimiento, vigilancia, detención, interrogatorios con tortura, traslados entre países y desaparición o muerte de personas”
consideradas por dichos regímenes como “subversivas del orden instaurado o contrarias al pensamiento político o ideológico opuesto, o no compatible con el gobierno de los Estados Unidos y por tanto con las dictaduras militares de la región”.
Sanders condena por su nombre la avaricia de Wall Street, la corrupción del sistema electoral y político, y el robo del futuro de los jóvenes y de los trabajadores estadounidenses.
Su mensaje ha despertado el recuerdo de gloriosas luchas por la igualdad, por los derechos civiles, por los derechos laborales y de los inmigrantes.
Sanders ha sido ignorado o atacado por los grandes medios
corporativos, por los expertos y por la cúpula del propio partido que lo patrocina, pero casi siempre ha dejado atónitos a los grandes medios corporativos y a los contrincantes que han presagiado su debacle, manteniéndose como una opción real desde que lanzó su campaña el pasado año hasta el día de hoy.
A quien haya conocido las características de la casi nula politización del estadounidense medio como resultado de la intensa presión que ejerce el “establishment” en ese terreno, le resulta una
extraordinaria sorpresa que, con una plataforma como la que ofrece Bernie Sanders, un aspirante a figurar como candidato a la Casa Blanca, pueda llegar más allá de los primeros debates internos del partido que lo patrocine, cualquiera de los dos partidos que pujan por llegar a la presidencia cada cuatro años en un país tan dominado por Wall Street y el complejo militar.
Sorprende que donde la población, hasta hace tan poco temía a la palabra socialista, el apoyo a Sanders haya llegado a tanto.
Abril 15 de 2016.
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