Despite isolation Cuba is still the home of the brave, land of the free

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A long-time supporter of the Cuban Revolution gives an eyewitness account of the high level of social services still available in an island bastion under attack Thirty years ago, right after the Cuban Revolution, 1 was very active in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New York and Brooklyn. I had even helped arrange a reception for the Cuban revolutionaries, including Fidel Castro, at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem when they came to appear before the United Nations.

Although I had worked on organizing tours to Cuba for hundreds of people, I never had the chance to go myself. Either I was 100 busy or too broke to make the trip. When I finally could afford the time and the expense, the government of the United States brought down its "iron curtain" and refused to allow any U.S. citizen to travel to But on Oct. 14, 1990, a 30-year dream came true for me.

I arrived in Havana, Cuba, to participate in a conference of women organized by the Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (FMC), the Federation of Cuban Women. The FMC is a non-governmental organization of over 3 million Cuban women.

For seven days women from all over the Caribbean met; and for seven days the women from the Federation answered all questions frankly and honestly, showered us with information, and organized visits to childcare and healthcare facilities, women's prisons, and whatever else we expressed interest in seeing.

There were nine women from the United States-none of us had ever met before. Three of us were fluent in Spanish-unfortunately I wasn't. But we had no trouble getting translations wherever we went. And we went everywhere, including what turned into a seven-mile walk to the Malecón (an historic walkway along the ocean's edge).

We visited all kinds of neighborhoods, and usually arrived back at our living quarters late at night. None of us was accosted or hassled by anyone.

Conference brings women together The FMC-sponsored conference was called in memory of the nuns and priests who were murdered by the military in El Salvador. This theme set the serious tone of the conference.

We were meeting with women from Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as from Cuba. All of us were housed in a beautiful home that had been turned over to the Federation. It had obviously been the home of a very wealthy person during the days of the Batista regime. Now it is a dormitory for the use of the Cuban people.

One of the best rewards of being at this conference was living with and getting to know sisters from other countries. These women are fighting for justice and democracy in their countries. Everyone of them knew that it is the U.S. government which stands between them and justice.

Cuba is a beautiful country. But what is most beautiful about Cuba is that it is the sanctuary of the oppressed of the world.

I met a beautiful 16-year-old Panamanian woman. She had been shot in the back by U.S. troops when they invaded Panama. She will never walk again. She was in Cuba for medical reasons and was supplied her with her first wheel chair. [See Sylvia Weinstein's column on her discussion with a Panamian woman in this issue.] Cuba supplies medical care for wounded fighters from Africa and Central and Latin America. They receive hospital care, dental care and whatever else they need, and they don't pay one cent. Cuba carries out the policy carved on the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

Unfortunately, it is the U.S. government which is creating the huddled masses yearning to breathe free from oppression. And it is Cuba and the Cuban people who dig deeper into their pockets to give refuge to all 14 SOCIALIST ACTION Childcare centers are open from 6:00 who need it; despite the to this poor country.

We met many young men and women from various countries who were taking refuge in Cuba. Many were young college students who were receiving a totally free education at Havana University.

Childcare in Cuba

The children of Cuba are especially lucky. When the Cubans call them "Cuba's future," they mean it and they provide for them the best childcare and education possible. All children of women who work outside of the home have childcare services. Al! childcare services are free!

We visited a childcare center in Havana. It was a center built 11 years ago and was considered a model center.

But just in case anyone tries to say that we were fooled by Cuban authorities, let me say that we observed four centers before we visited the one picked for this tour. Afall of the centers the children were well supervised as they played.

Children may enter the childcare centers when they reach the age of 45 days. They can stay until they reach the age of six and then enter the school system. Women who take off that first 45 days after giving birth are guaranteed their jobs back.

There are over 1000 childcare centers in Cuba, and 115 centers were opened in Havana between 1987 and 1989. A total of 110,000 children are cared for from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.

One of the FMC women told me that at first the centers were only open till 6 p.m., but they soon realized that many women work until 9 p.m.; so it was decided to keep the centers open later for the convenience of the mothers.

At the model childcare center we visited, the Frank Pais Center, there were 216 children and a staff of 49 workers (47 women and two men). There were 11 teachers and 18 aides, plus support workers such as cooks and cleaners. Head teachers at each center must have five years of university study, including one year of child development and psychology.

Thirty-one infants up to the age of two were being cared for in a special area of the center. Women wearing nurses' uniforms were taking care of them.

The nursery was well-scrubbed and furnished with play pens, cribs and dressing tables, as well as toys and brightly colored paintings on the wall. They had their own kitchen and refrigerator.

The other children are separated according to age and have their own rooms and play groups. Parents and friends had made beautiful papier-maché children's chairs and tables. Each school provides clothes, tooth brushes, soap, and towels for each child.

NOVEMBER 1990 A.I.N. in the morning till 9:00 at night.

Their schedule is like this. At 6:00 a.m. the children arrive and change from their home clothing to their school clothing. Each school washes and dries the clothing for use the next day. At 8:30 a.m. the children have gym where they do exercises and dance, at 8:45 a.m. they go to classes, according to their age level, where special effort is given to language development.

At 9:15 a.m. they have Education is free through college a.m. they listen to music or stories; 10:00 a.m. is bath time for all children; 11:15 a.m. is lunch; 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. is nap timethe children all have their own cots and bedding; 3:00 p.m. is snack time; 3:30 p.m. is crafts and/or singing or story reading time; 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. is set aside for independent activities.

All children are toilet trained by the staff at the schools. Children receive their own special identification such as a hat, color, flower, etc. This identification is placed on all of their belongings such as tooth brush, drinking glass, clothes—so that children too young to read can identify their things.

Parent meetings are held every two months and parents are filled in on the developmental programs so that the children can learn at home as well as at the center. Children who are ill (with a temperature) are kept at home until they are well enough to return to the center.

Grandparents, too, have a role to play in childcare. There are grandparent clubs all over Cuba! Retired grandparents, and others, can "adopt" a center and help out. A total of 56 percent of the children in Cuba receive free, quality childcare.

Education in Cuba

Education is considered to be an essential social right in Cuba and a key to the island nation's future. Education is free up through college level.

Primary schools stay open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Classes last from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. All children receive breakfast, snacks and lunch. Cuba has an established schedule for learning.

For example, all six-year-olds are expected to be doing some reading and writing after four months. I asked a teacher what if they didn't make it. The teacher explained that actually most children do learn in that time and those who didn't receive special help.

Cuba has made special efforts for the disabled and the mentally handicapped. They have separate schools for them and make every effort to educate them to take a productive place in society.

There are special summer and vacation camps for all Cuban children as well as children from all over the world. One of the women on the tour who lives in New York sends her two boys to an international summer school in Cuba for the summer, and her daughter is in a boarding school outside of Havana.

All these services are free, including clothing. The mother works at a full-time job in New York and doesn't want her children spending their time on the streets alone and unsupervised. Her daughter had been at the boarding school for three years. She is 16 and will very likely continue on through college in Cuba.

Healthcare in Cuba

Likewise, all healthcare in Cuba is absolutely free. There is some charge for prescription drugs, but at very low cost. Bu most medicine is simply free.

They have a very good medical system in Cuba. Doctors must live in the community in which their patients live. The doctor will have a house on the top floor and open a clinic on the bottom floor.

For the first year after the birth of a baby, the doctor will make monthly house calls to give immunization shots including polio vaccine. He or she is also expected to make sure that the living conditions of the infants are clean and that the babies are well cared for.

This is why Cuba's infant mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world—including among the industrialized countries. It is .07 percent and going down; in the United States, the infant mortality rate is .17 percent-two and a half times higher, and going up.

In addition to providing extraordinary medical care for its people, Cuba also exports many of its doctors to underdeveloped countries around the world.

Meanwhile, in the richest country in the world, "Every 67 seconds an American teenager has a baby. Every eight seconds of the school day an American child drops out (continued on next page)

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Infant mortality is declining in Cuba-rising in the United States SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1990 15 Cuban women learn trades and skills (continued from previous page) of school. Every 53 minutes an American child dies of poverty." (San Francisco Chronicle, October 25, 1990)

What about "choice"?

Abortion has been legal in Cuba since the revolution-over 30 years ago. Immediately after the revolution, the Cuban government legalized abortion. However, they became concerned because a large amount of their medical operations were going into abortion.

For a short time Cuba tried to discourage abortions, claiming that other medical needs outweighed their ability to perform abortions. What happened was that illegal and self-induced abortions created more medical problems than ever. Women were staying hospitalized longer due to botched abortions.

Cuba very soon stopped discouraging abortions, and it has been readily available ever since.

Women over the age of 16 can get immediate abortion-free and on demand. Women under the age of 16 must inform their legal guardians or parents. However, neither parents or guardians have the power to prevent abortions.

Abortions must be performed in hospitals rather than clinics and can be done up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. The method of abortion is by vacuum aspirator.

I asked what happened to women if they were over the 10-week limit and was told that since there is no stigma attached to abortion almost no one waited beyond the 10-week period.

Sex education begins in the third grade among male and female students. The IUD and birth control pills are the most commonly used contraceptives. Cuba does not produce either the diaphragm or the condom; those birth control devices must be imported, and are too expensive. There is no anti-choice movement in Cuba.

Despite the widespread sexual education campaign there is still teen-age pregnancy. In fact, when talking to some of the FMC women I was reminded of the complaints we hear in the United States about our exorbitantly high teen-age pregnancy rate. I mentioned a little joke that we tell about teen agers.

"They have three beliefs. (1) They will never get old, (2) They will never die, and (3) They cannot get pregnant if they do it standing up!" The Cuban women finished it off by adding "or they can't get pregnant the first time they have sex.

I also mentioned that we even have people in the United States who blame the high teen-age pregnancy rate on sexual education itself. The FMC sister said that she had also heard the same complaint from older Cubans; but she said that this is rare.

I had the opportunity to meet a "block" group of the FMC women. The block committees are women volunteers who provide Fi the past services within their community. We met with about 20 women of all ages. One was 74 years old; her husband was hanged in a public square by Batista's thugs for activity against his dictatorship.

They explained that their job was to hetp in the community in whatever way needed. For instance, if an older person was sick they took them to the doctor, helped with shopping and medical needs.

If there was a family having trouble, personal or financial, they intervened to help them out. They were responsible for any children who needed their help and generally interceded on behalf of their neighbors when dealing with a government agency.

I asked two questions of this group of mixed-generation women: How did they take it when the government granted women the right to divorce their husbands, live together without marriage and legalize abortions? The oldest woman answered:

She said that in the old days before the revolution only the middle class and rich had official weddings—the poor always lived together without the sanction of government or priest. Also, before the revolution, women had to stay married to a man no matter how she was treated. Usually a woman was afraid to leave because she had no one to help support her or her children.

Now, women were economically independent and were not forced to live with a man Children are who was cruel to her or her children because women could work and make their own way.

I asked them what they thought of abortion. For years and years, they told me, women died of botched abortions. Or if lucky enough, they lived through them, but had to endure years of degradation by those who knew of the attempted abortion. Now it was open and honest and women had the right to decide how many children they would have.

Then I asked if their community involvement was sometimes looked upon as simply interfering into the private affairs of their neighbors. I was told that people came to the local FMC people with their problems because they knew they would be helped by them.

The answers to all our questions had the ring of truth. I couldn't help thinking of the times when I personally would have loved to have a neighbor like them, someone I could call on if I needed real help. Of course, most of us have someone we can rely on, but in Cuba you have a whole organization whose job is to be a good friend and neighbor and who enjoys doing it.

Housing in Cuba

Walk through any city in the United States and you will come upon people sieeping on doorsteps, in parks and alleys—wherever they can find the slightest bit of shelter. I didn't see or hear of one such case in Cuba.

I mentioned earlier that I had taken what must have been a seven-mile walk through Havana. I had blisters on the bottoms of my feet the size of half dollars. Not once did I see any sign of a homeless person on the street.

I did not even see anyone who gave the appearance of not having a home. What I did see was massive construction going up in all parts of Havana—most of it housing. And you pass by homes which were obviously once the homes of the wealthy who had left Cuba. These homes have been partioned for use as regular housing.

For those who know San Francisco it would be like walking through Pacific Heights and seeing clothes hanging from lines and balconies; evidence that these homes are now being occupied by working-class families rather than by the rich and beautiful and their servants.

AY N 12021 childcare services once they reach 45 days-old The FMC woman told me that there is, however, still a shortage of housing in Cuba. She said this was why families still have to share larger homes. She also said that some of the housing was dormitorystyle but she said that no one in Cuba was without shelter. The rent in Cuba, by law, is held to just 10 percent of wages. It can go no higher.

Cuba has also developed "micro-brigades. These are self-help housing associations. Workers can take off from work, being replaced by other workers, while they build their own apartments. The government will give the workers all building supplies and the help of skilled construction workers.

The government builds high-rise shells and workers finish them off. In that way thousands of workers in Cuba have not only built their own homes but have also helped their fellow workers build theirs.

Unfortunately, because of Cuba's energy crisis and the new 1991 Soviet trade agreement, which is a sharp cutback from the 1990 trade agreement, Cuba will probably have to slow down its housing development.

Equal pay for equal The micro-brigrades have also had the effect of placing more women into jobs they would not have done a few years ago. Women are working at trades, such as construction, that they had not been in before.

Two things that are illegal in Cuba are racism and sexism. Women and minorities receive the same wage as men when doing the same work. It is against the law to pay women and minorities less. While the poison of racism and sexism might still live on in the hearts and minds of a very few Cubans, they had better not practice it. It is against the law!

Women of the United States have been waiting and fighting for 200 years for the Equal Rights Amendment. In Cuba, women have full and equal rights. But it took a revolution to get them, and that's what it will take here.

However, women in Cuba still have a way to go, not because of the government but because of the history of oppression of women before the revolution.

Women are moving into leadership roles; their are more women in the universities than ever before. Women are working in increasingly diverse occupations formerly reserved for male workers; they are becoming doctors, plumbers, movie directors—getting into all phases of Cuban life.

Today in Cuba, women and Blacks are the majority in the institutions of higher learning. In the United States there are more Black males in prison than in school.

Most importantly, my impression is that the Cuban people are dedicated to a society based on the principles of socialism.

They are not inclined toward the Soviet bureaucrats' mad dash toward capitalism. They can see what capitalism has done to the people of underdeveloped countries and they want no part of it.

If the United States decides to invade, Cuba won't be a push-over like Grenada. The Cuban people are ready to defend their ideas and homeland with their lives.

As one 74-year-old Cuban woman said to me: "I would sink this whole island and me with it before I would let the United States take it."

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Cuban Revolution was carried out through mass, independent The opposed by the Cuban capitalists-those who backed Batista and those who wanted a new government. The latter included Stalinists who had opposed the July 26 leaders, calling them "petty bourgeois adventurers."

Although a revolutionary-workers' party of the Bolshevik-type did not exist in Cuba, the revolution defeated Batista, the Stalinists, and imperialism. It established the first free country of the Americas. The Cuban socialist revolution has survived for more than 30 years. How was that possible?

What happened?

The Cuban revolution was led by a revolutionary leadership based on the masses. The Cuban leaders—like their Bolshevik predecessors and the Sandinista leaders 20 years later-faced intense pressure from imperialism. Like the Bolsheviks, the Cuban leaders marched forward against the capitalists.

A review of the revolution shows how they responded to imperialist attack.

After Batista fled on Jan. 1, 1959, a coalition government was set up. All important positions were taken by capitalist figures. Manuel Urrutia was named president. This was a bourgeois coalition government.

It did not last long, however. After a radical agrarian reform law was adopted May 17, 1959, giving land to poor peasants, divisions developed in the coalition government.

(Prior to the revolution, 75 percent of the land had been owned by 8 percent of the population. Seven of the 10 largest latifundios were U.S.-owned, as was 40 percent of Cuban sugar production, the main export The National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) was established to oversee implementation of the program. INRA and the

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'Education is considered to be n essential social right in Cuba.'

'Two things that are illegal in Cuba are racism and sexism.'