Adroit and inconspicuous’ indeed

“Every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.

- Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)1 Washington, April 6, 1960

Last month marked 60 years since the US State Department let the cruelty cat out of the bag regarding US sanctions against Cuba. Make life so hard and horrible for the Cuban people, they will overthrow the hated Cuban communist regime. And 60 years on those sanctions continue, making proper food, medicine and medical supplies difficult to obtain. But Cuba preserved, establishing a level of health care for every Cuban that far exceeds collective US health care that sentences millions to bankruptcy, degraded health, even needless death from arguably the worst health care system in the industrialized world.

Providing health care to countries in need is Cuba’s greatest export, sending tens of thousands of doctors and health care workers to over a hundred countries in return for desperately needed supplies denied by Uncle Sam. When covid-19 hit, Cuba’s resilience to America’s mendacity steeled them to respond collectively and properly. Infections per million Cubans are 165 to 4,600 in the US. Deaths per million? Seven in Cuba, 272 in the richest country in the world. Eighteen countries have requested pandemic medical assistance from Cuba, including much richer countries Italy and Spain.

US sanctions are not just adroit and inconspicuous. They are inhumane and criminal.