Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Global Sumud Flotilla: Another boat has been hit in a suspected drone attack; no injuries reported
Brigadier General Saree: The operation successfully achieved its goal and caused millions to flee to shelters.
Yemeni Armed Forces: We attacked several targets around occupied al-Quds with a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile with cluster warheads.
Hamas: We hold the US administration jointly responsible with the occupation for this crime due to its constant support for the aggression and crimes of the occupation against our people.
Hamas: Targeting the negotiating delegation while it was discussing the US president's proposal confirms that Netanyahu and his government do not want to reach any agreement.
Hamas: We call for urgent action to pressure the occupation to stop the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing and to achieve justice for our Palestinian people.
Hamas: The crime proved that the Zionist occupation is a threat to the region and the world, and that Netanyahu is trying to erase our national cause and the rights of our people.
Hamas: We confirm the enemy's failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation, while several of our martyred brothers have ascended to the highest ranks of glory.
Hamas: The crime once again reveals the criminal nature of the occupation and its desire to undermine any chances of reaching an agreement.
Hamas: The crime represented an aggression against the sovereignty of the sisterly State of Qatar, which, along with sisterly Egypt, is playing an important and responsible role in sponsoring the mediation.

STICKS BECAUSE YOU ROW, STICKS BECAUSE YOU DON´T ROW

  • Mikhael Marzuqa Mikhael Marzuqa
  • Source: Al Mayadeen
  • 20 Jul 2021 14:39
6 Min Read

Cuba suffered the effects of the pandemic with an aggravating factor, that is the blockade imposed by the US since February 1962 with the aim of strangling Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

  • x
  • STICKS BECAUSE YOU ROW, STICKS BECAUSE YOU DON´T ROW

In Spanish, there is a well-known proverb that says "sticks because you row, sticks because you don't row" which refers to the fact that certain types of people will criticize you regardless of what you do, whether it is good or not.

The pandemic has affected every country on the planet equally. Some have adopted more effective measures than others to face it, as well as in other cases they have had more resources and/or a better lobby with laboratories to acquire enough vaccines to promptly begin vaccinating their population.

However, with greater or lesser intensity, many are the countries where people took to the streets to protest the handling of the pandemic, a situation that in several cases was accompanied by social uprisings with legitimate demands to improve sanitary conditions, the quality of education, pensions reform, availability of drinking water, gender rights, indigenous people and others that require changes in the constitution to achieve democratic transformations towards more just and equitable societies. Such has been, for example, the case of Chile among other Latin American countries.

Faced with such a complex scenario, Cuba has not been an exception and has suffered the effects of the pandemic like so many others. With an aggravating factor, that is the blockade imposed by the United States since February 1962 with the aim of strangling Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. This failed cold war policy still constitutes the longest and most comprehensive economic, commercial and financial siege against any country and, as in Gaza, Palestine, this hostile and aggressive policy harms and hits the population hard, for which reason constitutes a serious violation of human rights. Although the blockade against Cuba is of longer duration, the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which also seeks the overthrow of the Palestinian government in that strip, is much more criminal still since Israel constantly bombs that territory causing destruction and death to thousands of Palestinians, using internationally prohibited weapons, exacerbating the severity of the pandemic among the population.

Continuing with Cuba, in the last week, many people took to the streets to protest the shortage of food, problems with electricity, deterioration of economic activity, especially tourism which is the main source of income for the country and, the general sanitary conditions. Nevertheless, it is also fair to acknowledge that massive protests have taken place in almost all over the world, regardless of the political color of the government, due to the lack of medical supplies, inability to provide care in hospitals, delays in vaccination, a large number of people who died in countries of Latin America, Asia, and Europe, among many other problems. This is without considering the cases of corruption and resignations of health ministers, such as the well-known cases of Brazil and Chile in South America.

Related News

Collapsing empire: The day sanctions died

The Siege of West Asia

Yet despite the criticism, the Cuban government's handling of the pandemic appears to be markedly better than that of many other countries on the continent. To cite some cases, deaths from Covid-19 as a percentage of the population have been to date 0.17% in Chile, 0.23% in Colombia, 0.22% in Argentina, and only 0.015% in Cuba. A vaccine against Covid-19 was developed on the island given the remarkable scientific and health development that Cuba has achieved, despite all the restrictions to which it is subjected by the US blockade.

The embargo on Cuba has been condemned 30 times by the United Nations and the international community maintains that it violates international law, undermining the social and economic rights of the Cuban population, as well as limiting the importation of medicines, medical supplies, and technologies to treat deadly diseases and to maintain the health programs of this country. This year, the end of the embargo was approved in the UN by an overwhelming majority and as usual with only two votes against, the United States and "Israel".

As usual, every time there is a protest in Cuba, the United States government mobilizes all its communication capacity, which we must remember, in the hands of multinational agencies controlled by world Zionism, in addition to activating its agents "asleep” to incite demonstrations against the Cuban government in successive attempts to end the Revolution. This, however, has the support of the vast majority of the population who, since the time of the overthrown dictator Fulgencio Batista, is well aware of the inequities and abuses of capitalist society.

In this difficult scenario, the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel must be prudent and open spaces for dialogue with those who identify themselves as leaders of the social protest movement, to listen and consider possible responses to their demands, which could fulfill a double objective, on one hand, to be certainly reasonable measures and possible to implement for the benefit of the country and, on the other hand, to silence the internal and external political voices that are rising against the government to discredit its achievements and overthrow the socialist project.

As for now, the Cuban president has already recognized that many of the claims were well founded, which has built a bridge for both the opposition and the government to sit at a dialogue table. For a little over a decade, in universities, think tanks and even within the communist party, some proposals for change have been hinted with more or less notoriety, particularly in economic matters. The apparent threat of the protests could be cleverly used by the government as an opportunity to carry out the reforms that the country requires.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • sanctions
  • COVID-19
  • US
  • Vaccines
  • Cuba
Mikhael Marzuqa

Mikhael Marzuqa

International Analyst and Writer; Executive Director at International Observatory of the Foundation for Democracy.

Most Read

All
Why Russia and China are NOT Imperialist: A Marxist-Leninist Assessment of Imperialism’s Development Since 1917

Why Russia and China are NOT Imperialist: A Marxist-Leninist Assessment of Imperialism’s Development Since 1917

  • Analysis
  • 3 Sep 2025
The Coming War On Iran Will Be Regional, Perhaps International

The coming war on Iran will be regional, perhaps international

  • Opinion
  • 2 Sep 2025
In the immediate aftermath of Parubiy’s slaying, claims emerged he had months earlier requested formal protection from the SBU, only to be rebuffed. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

The Ukrainian neo-Nazi who knew too much?

  • Opinion
  • 5 Sep 2025
The reek of desperation hangs over Albanese’s Iran conspiracy theories

The reek of desperation hangs over Albanese’s Iran conspiracy theories

  • Opinion
  • 30 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
Palestine is the future

Palestine is the future

The clucking of chickens on the eve of deciding a new Constitution in Chile

The clucking of chickens on the eve of deciding a new Constitution in Chile

World Al-Quds Day

World Al-Quds Day

"Israel" or the wolf disguised as a sheep

"Israel" or the wolf disguised as a sheep

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS