People first
To the editor:
In the years prior to the revolution, Cuba’s economy was relatively well,compared to the economies in the Caribbean. We must be mindful that this is relative. Actually Cuba’s economy was not well. It was worse than the economy of our poorest state by all indicators (Mississippi).The indicator per capital income is often quoted but this is a poor indicator of well-being. There is a very high gap between the haves and have nots. The number of high income are small,and disproportionate to the large mass of poor.
Fifty percent of Cuba’s available land (cultivatable) was in the sugar industry .One third of the workers were employed in the sugar industry. One third of the national income came from sugar .Yet most workers worked less than 100 days out of the year.
Cuba’s rural area was especially poor. Most farm workers were under-nourished, illiterate and readily susceptible to disease.Two thirds of the rural dwellings had dirt floors. Less than 9 percent of the homes had electricity, 2 percent had running water and less than 3 percent had indoor toilets. Many use the bushes. 90 percent of the rural children were infected with parasites (intestinal) acquired by walking barefoot. These parasites work their way through the body in the intestines and made nutrition even worse.
After the revolution there was an attempt to increase education in rural areas, and there was a massive increase in health care training. It is troubling, though, to think what the embargo has done for the entire country including those who were in the beginning in a bad state.
Talks are now on going talks negotiating lifting the embargo. I would hope that the Cuban negotiator would have an equal opportunity to set the agenda.
We must take care of the needs of those who have been long neglected.
Lewis Robinson
Fort Myers