Basically I kind of agree with Yahaira's comments. It is unthinkable to have the HIV infected confined today. But back in 1980's, little was known about this virus disease...sort of a mystery killer. Any disease new and unknown to human mind triggers fears and Cuban government reacted "overboard." This is a negative reaction but the end results did generate some positive outcome. Overall, it is a mixed baggage. The blog question stated "Cuba compulsorily tested thousands of its citizens for HIV..." ===> Just exactly how did they pick up those thousands of people? Which population did they single out? Young and gay or what? Would the people who were tested being viewed as "diseased" even though they were tested negative? Were those tested negative returned to their hometowns rejected ?
We may never get precise assessment on these issues, but clearly it violated many people's rights. Do some of the consequential positive outcomes justify this act? Hard to say, I don't know.
In addition, in Michael Moore's film which we viewed at one of previous classes, Cuba was glorified as a generous and friendly country. It was all positive and little was said about any negativity. Any comment from any single source might be biased. I wonder is there political propaganda involved in this film since Cuba is trying hard to promote its image to the west. The universal coverage is definitely welcomed by majority of Cubans though they have many complaints toward many social policies under this oppressive regime. The health care delivery seems to be the bright spot in this island nation plaqued with several social and economic issues.
One Cuban woman asked "If a small country lacking natural resources can and willing to commit to the univeral care, then why would a wealthy and big country like the States won't do it?" This might be worthy for our politicans to think about it.
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