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A very important comment by JSB went unnoticed in another thread:

Off topic:

Flipping through the channels tonight waiting for SNL to come on, I came upon The Naked Brothers Band on Nick at Nite and lo and behold, they're blurring out the image of Che on the t-shirt that one of the lead characters is wearing. It's exactly the scene that was depicted in the still in your recent post about the subject. Blurred out. Somebody either got some sense or one of your emails and calls got through to somebody. Peace. --s

Posted by jsb at January 27, 2007 11:18 PM

Which I followed with:

jsb:

This is good news indeed. The blurring is often done to conceal brand names on tee-shirts and such, especially when the station or the program's producer has not been paid a placement fee or the brand is not an advertiser under contract. This may be the first time that this expedient has been used to remove the effigy of a mass murderer.

Posted by Manuel A. Tellechea at January 27, 2007 11:27 PM

This buffet of blogs has given me indigestion. It must be the rotten arguments presented. Or plain malnutrition of facts.

Nuevo Accion presents "an exclusive" (wow!) of five photos of the Bolivarian Youth. They say that these photos are the findings of their "investigations department" (another wow!). But, you can find a LOT more pictures at the Bolivarian Youth website (without an investigation team). Nuevo Accion then presents these photos to Miguel Saavedra as "evidence" that the Bolivarian Youth are "professional agitators". Notice that all that photos are of PEACEFUL protests.

This "exclusive" alone gave me dizziness. But, a good dose of facts cures that.

Now three blogs are writing about the "myth" of low infant mortality rates in Cuba. Great discussion! But, notice that ALL THREE blogs support their position using ONE source: the Miami Herald! The irony!

This fraudulent argument should be easy to put to rest. Stay tuned Mambi Watchers.

Does anybody know where I can purchase: Javier

Arzuaga's new book "Cuba 1959: La Galera de muerte"

Mambi,

Stay tuned Mambi Watchers.

You hear that mambi Watchers? Stay tuned. The both of you.

Larry,

I got an email not too long ago on that book. Let me see if I didnt lose it.

Mambi,

And one other thing. Whats very telling about your comments are not your myopic comments perse, but how selective you are in the posts you comment on.

Twenty years ago, Professor Nicholas Eberstadt of the Harvard Center for Population Studies showed that Communist Cuba falsifies (or "cooks up") its infant mortality rate by keeping two sets of books, one for internal and another for external consumption.

By studing the raw data used to calculate Cuba's infant mortality rate, Everstadt concluded that infant mortality in Cuba had actually been increasing steadily throughout the 1970s, eventually reaching a level (46 deaths per 1000 births) that was actually higher than the pre-revolutionary infant mortality rate (32 deaths per 1000 births). This study was published in The Wall Street Journal and later expanded into a book, The Poverty of Communism.

From The Wall Street Journal, 9 December 1988, p. A20:4:

Even staunch adherents of free markets often accept the premise that, on a fundamental level, communist economies are morally superior, providing a more thorough and equitable safety nets for their populations. Marxist-Leninist governments fan this contention by boasting of their literacy programs, basic health care, and full employment. After all, their legitimacy hinges on a self-proclaimed ability to end exploitation and material want.

But what if that premise is wrong? In his book, "The Poverty of Communism" (Transaction Books, Rutgers University, 311 pages, 24.95), Nick Eberstadt examines the available data on poverty in communist countries. He focuses on demographic statistics, which are easily comparable, provide a solid indication of the quality of life, and are independent of ideology or social system. What he finds is fascinating.

Cuba, as we all have heard, is often cited as a model of literacy and health. Castro, in fact, told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation in 1977 that since the revolution, Cuba's literacy rate had jumped from 25% to 99%. Yet the literacy rate at the time of the revolution was already 79%. Furthermore, Cuba subsequently changed its definition of literacy to include only those age groups most likely to be literate. At best, Cuba's likely literacy rate currently runs between 90% and 93%, which is equal to or below its socio-economic peers in the Western hemisphere, many of which 30 years ago had literacy rates equal to or lower than Cuba's.

In the area of health, Cuba's statistics may be even more suspect. The Cuban Ministry of Health (which is responsible for producing and checking the numbers used to evaluate its own effectiveness) has averred that between 1975 and 1985 infant mortality declined 40%. Yet in the same period, the reported incidence of acute diarrhea was up 52%, food poisoning increased 63%, acute respiratory infection was up 146%, German measles grew at 220%, and chicken pox rose 406%. All have a high correlation with infant mortality.

This paradox is heightened by the use of life tables (an indirect and more accurate way to calculate, and check, life expectancy statistics), which indicate that for certain periods in the 1970s, Cuba's infant mortality rates were rising substantially.

From The Wall Street Journal, 9 December 1988, p. A20:4:

Here's one for you Mambi:

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a retired University of Pittsburgh professor who has studied the Cuban economy for decades has this to say about Cuban cited stats: "Experts doubt their reliability as the country has had severe economic struggles.

"There's no way we can check those figures," he said.

And: A spokesman for the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO division that collects statistics in the Americas, says the group doesn't try to independently verify the numbers. "We rely on the figures the ministries of health send to us," says PAHO spokesman Daniel Epstein.

Mesa-Lago is particularly suspicious of Cuba's claim that its healthcare costs $251 per capita. Since its peso doesn't trade globally, there's no real way to compare the peso and dollar. "And much of healthcare is labor costs, and in Cuba salaries are extremely low."

Can't comment on all of them Val. Wish I could. But, I'm sure you will agree, we each have our own personal concerns.

Ziva, I agree we should be suspicious and skeptical. So let's try to find out what the methods being used for the numbers are.

WHO and PAHO DO NOT do independent assessments of countries' systems of health. They work with, report and observe. The UN in most of their programs, of any domain, work through a partnership, not as independent agents.

Furthermore, take a look at all the information there is about Cuban vital and health statistics provided to PAHO or WHO, for the past twenty years. Its very detailed, beyond some of the other latin countries. And, I agree that there may be some bias. But, to what degree?

No other country's estimates are biased? Only Cuba's? Therefore, its all a myth? Therefore, the latest Gallup poll showing that the far majority of Cubans in Havana and Santiago have a favorable view of their health care system is false?

Let's be skeptical, but not to extremes. Yet, so far, all I've heard are false arguments, based on a few individuals like Mesa-Lago (and his "experts ")and Nick Eberstadt(from the late eighties). Let's find some reliable and observable numbers.

If this isn't possible, then there is little we can do, but speculate. And, I don't like to spend too much time on that.

Mambrú:

What has been shown is that as early as the 1980s it was already established that Cuban infant mortality statistics were not only unreliable but subject to official manipulation. While every other public health indicator showed that infant mortality was on the rise, the officially-produced statistics did not reflect that reality. When the raw data on which those statistics were based was analyzed by independent investigators, it was found that the official infant mortality rate bore no relation to the available date. The "solution" which the Cuban government devised to correct this discrepancy was to deny henceforth any request from non-government statisticians to corroborate independently their findings.

Your faith must indeed be blind (and blinding) to accept at face value the Castro regime's statistics on infant mortality or anything else.

No other country's estimates are biased? Only Cuba's? Therefore, its all a myth? Therefore, the latest Gallup poll showing that the far majority of Cubans in Havana and Santiago have a favorable view of their health care system is false?

Not only is this comment is a pure example of a strawman argument, but the question is misleading:

Did Gallup give those interviewed an overview of other healthcare systems for their review prior to answering said question? Because if not, then the average Cuban has nothing to compare it to and thus their answer is flawed.

Let's be skeptical, but not to extremes. Yet, so far, all I've heard are false arguments, based on a few individuals like Mesa-Lago (and his "experts ")and Nick Eberstadt(from the late eighties). Let's find some reliable and observable numbers.

I dont know what false arguments youre refering to. And why are you so quick to discard Mesa-Lago and those others that have been quoted here and in other posts? Are we to assume that simply because they are living in exile, their statements are to be tossed out in "quotations"?

Let's find some reliable and observable numbers.

How the heck does anyone try find "reliable numbers" and statistics from a state where the Government controls every aspect of said state? Where said governement controls every aspect of every study by every oraginzation, world or otherwise? Come on, man. At least, be realistic.

Val:

You are asking Mambino to be "realistic"? "Reality" is something that he creates for himself, and nothing that challenges his skewered view of Cuba will ever be acknowledged by him.

Mambino somehow believes that if he can prove that Castro did indeed reduce infant mortality it would justify all of his usurpations and predations on the Cuban people over 48 years. But if everything that Castro ever claimed in the way of social achievements were true, it would not alter the fact that he is a tyrant, and, of course, there is no such thing as a benevolent tyrant just as there is no such thing as a benevolent slavemaster.

As someone once said, there is more to life than getting sick or going to school.

Val, you yourself are relying on WHO numbers for YOUR latest post! That's all we have to rely on.

In a way, you are contradicting yourself by bashing the numbers, and then using the numbers for your own argument.

Who's being realistic?

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