Cuba is the Only Latin American Nation Free of Child Malnutrition -UNICEF

[ВАЛТЕР]

http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/news/cuba-has-eliminated-child-malnutrition-highlights-the-unicef-20120904/



HAVANA, Cuba.- Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that has eliminated child malnutrition, thanks to the government’s efforts to improve the diet of the most vulnerable groups, asserts an international organization.

The last report of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), entitled Progress for Children: a Report Card on Nutrition, points out that there are 146 million children under five years of age in the world with serious problems of malnutrition.

The UNICEF report adds that one of Cuba’s objectives is to eliminate poverty and guarantee environmental sustainability for 2015.

Among other achievements of the Caribbean island it highlights the reduction of children’s mortality rate, which continues to be 4.7 per every 1,000 live births, one of the lowest figures in the world, as announced Berta Lidia Castro, head of the National Group of Pediatrics of the Public Health Ministry.

According to an article published by the Siglo del Torreon, a Mexican regional newspaper, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also acknowledges Cuba as the country with more advances in Latin America in the struggle against malnutrition. That’s the reason why it places it at the forefront of the fulfillment of objectives in terms of human development, concludes the newspaper. (ACN)

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Admittedly, that is very good, though with the end of the ration book i'm not sure how they'll progress going forward.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Cuba is for sure one of the most highly developed capitalist nations in the world, contrary to what the US news will tell you. They also have the highest standard of living in Latin America and a higher life expectancy then the US.

[Uppity Prole]

Cuba is for sure one of the most highly developed capitalist nations in the world, contrary to what the US news will tell you. They also have the highest standard of living in Latin America and a higher life expectancy then the US.

I am agreed with your assessment. Unfortunately many in the West use access to consumer goods as the sole barometer for "standard of living" rather than the more relevant measures as access to free healthcare, free education, leisure facilities, life expectancy and subsidised food and housing.

[Sir Comradical]

I'm sure there is child-malnutrition in the US, so possibly only Canada and Cuba would be child-malnutrition free, right?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

I do have to say, Cuba is quite interesting.

You will struggle both to find a malnourished child, and to find something as basic as a plug in the whole of Havana (i've personal experience of this).

[KurtFF8]

Cuba is for sure one of the most highly developed capitalist nations in the world, contrary to what the US news will tell you. They also have the highest standard of living in Latin America and a higher life expectancy then the US.

Even if Cuba was "state capitalist" or whichever novel theory you're appealing to here, I don't see how labeling it "one of the most developed" makes much sense. (Especially if it is "capitalist")

[RadioRaheem84]

How much has the embargo really stunted Cuba's growth though? I think I've read that something like 90 billion over the course of 50 years. That's almost 2 billion a year which doesn't seem like a lot for any nation but considering Cuba's size, I am sure this has impacted it severely.

I mean is that the reason for such basic stuff like plugs being unavailable?

[L.A.P.]

Even if Cuba was "state capitalist" or whichever novel theory you're appealing to here, I don't see how labeling it "one of the most developed" makes much sense. (Especially if it is "capitalist")

meh, I don't think too much effort should be taken in trying to prove that Cuba is a genuine worker's state anymore. It's just a very progressive bourgeois state, probably the most progressive in the world.

[KurtFF8]

How much has the embargo really stunted Cuba's growth though? I think I've read that something like 90 billion over the course of 50 years. That's almost 2 billion a year which doesn't seem like a lot for any nation but considering Cuba's size, I am sure this has impacted it severely.

I mean is that the reason for such basic stuff like plugs being unavailable?

According to The Monthly Review (http://monthlyreview.org/2010/04/01/how-to-visit-a-socialist-country):

It is here that we see the impact of the blockade. The costs to Cuba of the fifty years of hostility comes out to several percent of the national income, a significant fraction of what the country needs to invest in order to advance.


meh, I don't think too much effort should be taken in trying to prove that Cuba is a genuine worker's state anymore. It's just a very progressive bourgeois state, probably the most progressive in the world.

I have yet to see a convincing argument that Cuba could (at least in a Marxist sense) be considered to be a "bourgeois state"

[L.A.P.]

I have yet to see a convincing argument that Cuba could (at least in a Marxist sense) be considered to be a "bourgeois state"

um...there's a ruling class that organizes itself into a party that extracts surplus-value from the labor of the workers. Can't wait to hear your rebuttal about how the workers have a marginal say in the industries they work, which ultimately comes down to managing their own exploitation.

[KurtFF8]

um...there's a ruling class that organizes itself into a party that extracts surplus-value from the labor of the workers. Can't wait to hear your rebuttal about how the workers have a marginal say in the industries they work, which ultimately comes down to managing their own exploitation.

What is there to make a rebuttal to? You simply made a claim and haven't really explained how the "ruling class" of Cuba is a bourgeois class.

There are many aspects of the Cuban economy, including how labor relates to the state, the planning apparatus of the economy, etc. that make it quite distinct from any "bourgeois state." And a "well it's just a different kind of capitalism" doesn't really do much to help the argument.

[RedSonRising]

I think it's pretty hard to assert that a country with Cuba's limited productive capabilities can simultaneously uphold an exploitative ruling class and provide for the basic human needs of its entire population.

[Sam_b]

I don't, why do you?

[Tim Cornelis]

I think it's pretty hard to assert that a country with Cuba's limited productive capabilities can simultaneously uphold an exploitative ruling class and provide for the basic human needs of its entire population.

I think this amounts to circular reasoning and therefore is not a valid argument.

[RedSonRising]

I think this amounts to circular reasoning and therefore is not a valid argument.

How is it circular? It's simply stating the logistically unfeasible reality of an exploitative class in Cuba. Basic goods, food, healthcare, education, and housing. with no uniquely valuable export on the world market. My point is that it's not an oil-rich country like Libya, which was able to have a concentrated ruling class while giving substantial concessions to the masses through social goods.

[Conscript]

How is it circular? It's simply stating the logistically unfeasible reality of an exploitative class in Cuba. Basic goods, food, healthcare, education, and housing. with no uniquely valuable export on the world market. My point is that it's not an oil-rich country like Libya, which was able to have a concentrated ruling class while giving substantial concessions to the masses through social goods.

1. Nickel
2. You don't need substantial capital to have capitalism.

Cuba might have done well with its massive state investments (of appropriated surplus value), but it's not socialism. Socialism can't live in isolated scarcity, and cuba has a capital-labor relationship in production.

[KurtFF8]

1. Nickel
2. You don't need substantial capital to have capitalism.

Cuba might have done well with its massive state investments (of appropriated surplus value), but it's not socialism. Socialism can't live in isolated scarcity, and cuba has a capital-labor relationship in production.

This argument doesn't make much sense to me though, and never really has.

If you're saying that "socialism can't live in isolated scarcity" then how can you turn around and use that as evidence that it thus has capitalism? Is capitalism a system that thus strives in isolated scarcity? Didn't Marx himself demonstrate that it's a system that requires constant expansion and increasing global interconnectedness to continue?

Also why have we not seen the constant "boom and bust" cycles that are characteristic of capitalism in Cuba if it is so obviously a bourgeois country?

[m1omfg]

Because some socialists expect "pure socialism" to immediately erupt everywhere and instantly raise conditions of isolated island countries to Scandinavian level.

[Human Lefts]

I do have to say, Cuba is quite interesting.

You will struggle both to find a malnourished child, and to find something as basic as a plug in the whole of Havana (i've personal experience of this).

Are you referring to electrical plugs? Because if so, I've had a different personal experience. I have never even thought that finding a plug is difficult in anywhere I have been in Havana (at least within the past 5 years), and I have been there a lot. This is the first time I even hear anyone mention it as an issue. Everyone's residence that I have been to has enough. If you're referring to buying the electrical plug system that is mounted on the wall, then I could see that if you're walking around at 4 am on a Wednesday. Other than that, they're pretty much everywhere. Just walk down any major avenue and you'll run into them or maybe a neighbor has one to spare.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Are you referring to electrical plugs? Because if so, I've had a different personal experience. I have never even thought that finding a plug is difficult in anywhere I have been in Havana (at least within the past 5 years), and I have been there a lot. This is the first time I even hear anyone mention it as an issue. Everyone's residence that I have been to has enough. If you're referring to buying the electrical plug system that is mounted on the wall, then I could see that if you're walking around at 4 am on a Wednesday. Other than that, they're pretty much everywhere. Just walk down any major avenue and you'll run into them or maybe a neighbor has one to spare.

I am talking specifically about transformer plugs than have 2 holes for the wall (Cuban end) but can have 3 holes plugged in to them, so I could plug my British appliances in.

I was there in 2010, and I promise you, I enlisted the help of an army of Cubans, and they could not find one for me.

There were indeed plenty of normal 2-hole plugs around, though I must say they were of variable quality, from those in the department store to some very rough, dangerous looking ones in the hardware stores, that were almost like handicraft stores.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

If you're saying that "socialism can't live in isolated scarcity" then how can you turn around and use that as evidence that it thus has capitalism? Is capitalism a system that thus strives in isolated scarcity? Didn't Marx himself demonstrate that it's a system that requires constant expansion and increasing global interconnectedness to continue?

Cuba, of course, has historically survived by trading with other capitalist nations (the late USSR), and I believe that Europe is one of its main export partners for its rather impressive biomed industries. Indeed, I believe that if you've had a Hepatitis B vaccine, it will have originated in Cuba.


Also why have we not seen the constant "boom and bust" cycles that are characteristic of capitalism in Cuba if it is so obviously a bourgeois country?

The 1990s was one massive bust in Cuba.

[KurtFF8]

Cuba, of course, has historically survived by trading with other capitalist nations (the late USSR), and I believe that Europe is one of its main export partners for its rather impressive biomed industries. Indeed, I believe that if you've had a Hepatitis B vaccine, it will have originated in Cuba.

This just further assumes the validity of the "state capitalist" theory though (i.e. making the claim that the USSR was capitalist), and doesn't really address the post you're responding to)




The 1990s was one massive bust in Cuba.

In what was was the "Special Period" in Cuba similar to any capitalist economic crisis?

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

This just further assumes the validity of the "state capitalist" theory though (i.e. making the claim that the USSR was capitalist), and doesn't really address the post you're responding to)

What would you describe 1980s USSR as? :confused:


In what was was the "Special Period" in Cuba similar to any capitalist economic crisis?

There was a massive, negative demand shock, a loss of financial subsidies, the latter then spread to the 'real' economy, leading to shortages, a massive fall in living standards etc.

I'm not an expert on the crisis, but how can you say that the periodico especiale was anything other than a crisis of capitalism? In a society that works along Socialist economic terms, you couldn't have a crisis rooted in the loss of a trade partner, because the democratic nature of the production process would mean that output, on the supply side, automatically and flexibly adjusts to the consumptive will of the wider population.

[KurtFF8]

What would you describe 1980s USSR as?

Well that's a tough one of course. Would I describe it as a "workers state"? I don't know exactly, although I'm certainly not comfortable describing it as capitalist.




There was a massive, negative demand shock, a loss of financial subsidies, the latter then spread to the 'real' economy, leading to shortages, a massive fall in living standards etc.

I'm not an expert on the crisis, but how can you say that the periodico especiale was anything other than a crisis of capitalism? In a society that works along Socialist economic terms, you couldn't have a crisis rooted in the loss of a trade partner, because the democratic nature of the production process would mean that output, on the supply side, automatically and flexibly adjusts to the consumptive will of the wider population.

Your last sentence just doesn't follow here. If Cuba were "really socialist" as you claim it's not, it doesn't follow that the crisis of the 90s was avoidable, and of course it could have been much worse had it been a liberalized economy.

How would a loss of a trade partner be irrelevant if it were the "right kind" of socialism? This just makes no sense.

You haven't really added anything to your original claim that it was a capitalist crisis here though. The variables you point out are not what defines a capitalist economic crisis, and even as you point out, it was exogenous to the Cuban economy to an extent (although of course this dichotomy of exogenous and indigenous is problematic to an extent)