A Page 1 story Nov. 16 outlined the steps taken by our government to bring China into the World Trade Organization. Our government’s stated position is that by opening up China to trade, the repressive policies of its government will soon fade away. Perhaps this is true. Why then, can we not adapt the same policy for Cuba?
I have recently returned from a “summit meeting” held in Cuba between U.S. and Cuban neuroscientists to build bridges among Cubans and Americans who study the brain and treat its maladies. This meeting, which represented the first bilateral meeting on the life sciences (or at least the first in the 40 years since the establishment of the current Cuban government), allowed scientists to speak freely and to establish professional relationships. It also allowed the creation of a binational committee charged with promoting exchange of information and material for neuroscience, as well as a program of ongoing exchange of scientists who study the brain and behavior, and clinical scholars who treat diseases of the brain and mind.
It was clear to the Americans attending the meeting that the embargo has thwarted the progress of an extremely talented people and has shortchanged our scientists by preventing our interaction with them. Just after the meeting, most of us attended the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Miami (about 100 miles from Havana). The society has invited a handful of Cuban colleagues over the past few years, but only two have been able to get into the U.S., and both received visas only at the last minute. The possibility to develop joint projects helpful to all of us has been stymied by these policies.
The embargo has also had significant consequences for the health and welfare of the Cuban people, and has led to widespread shortages of food and medicine.
Three thousand U.S. children are affected by meningitis B each year, and our embargo has prevented us from using a vaccine developed by the Cubans. Further, the Cubans have led the world in the development of low-cost brain-imaging technology. The availability of these instruments would enhance rural medicine in the U.S., where sophisticated, high-quality medical imaging may be hundreds of miles away.
The stated effect of the embargo has been to evoke the demise of Fidel Castro. The actual effect has been to cause needless suffering and thwart development. As a scientist, I would never do the same failed experiment for 38 years. It is time for our government to change its experimental strategy as well.
