Healing in a Blockade Context

By Christina La Fleur

Cuban doctors have been deployed all over the world to heal and to strengthen bilateral relations. In 2017, they came to Chicago to address extreme disparity and an urgent community need.

The University of Illinois Chicago-Cuban Ministry of Health collaboration is a first: American doctors invited Cuban medical professionals into American communities to help improve maternal and child health outcomes in underserved Chicago neighborhoods. This collaboration is a milestone in cooperative US-Cuban relations, and in Cuba’s medical diplomacy.

Dr. Jose Armando Arronte Villamarin and two other Cuban health professionals came to Chicago in January of 2017 to visit University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health) clinics and discuss the potential of applying a Cuban-style home visit system, where doctors have the chance to observe patients, and their conditions, in their own home. During their next visit to Chicago, the doctors began the at-home interviews to assess the patients and determine their health needs at the individual and, cumulatively, community levels.

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Nine Months In, How Has Trump Fared with Latin America?

By Blake Burdge

Argentina

The relationship between the United States and Argentina has remained strong under President Trump. It is likely that Trump views the country favorably due to the close relationship that he shared with Argentine President Mauricio Macri when the two were businessmen. Trump and Macri met at the White House in late April to discuss bilateral cybersecurity and to show joint support for the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in Venezuela.

The United States and Argentina have strengthened economic ties since Trump entered office, as both countries have lifted bans on the other for certain goods. For the first time since 1992, U.S. farmers will be able to export pork to Argentina, with a potential market of up to USD $10 million. Additionally, President Trump followed through on the Obama administration’s proposal to relinquish a ban on lemons from Argentina, which is the fourth-largest producer of the fruit in the world.

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The Challenges of the Cuban Healthcare System

By Martina Guglielmone

All featured images were taken by Laura LaRose in Aldecoa, Havana, Ciudad de la Habana

Despite Cuba’s polarized political climate, the country has developed a rather unique health care system that continues to deliver strong results, even with the challenges it has faced. Ex-president Fidel Castro believed a strong health-care system and biomedical science were “long-term mainstays of the Cuban economy”. Therefore, not only did Castro develop a system that produced a surplus of medical professionals –which became a source of foreign exchange- but he also made sure Cuba invested in constant biomedical research. This socialist, poor island has demonstrated that “through long-term, consistent investments in primary care and public health,” a country can solidify its social base, improve the quality of life of its citizens, and stimulate its economy.

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