Operación Milagro

Operación Milagro (English: Operation Miracle; also Misión Milagro in Venezuela) is a program of international solidarity launched in 2004 by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela to provide free medical treatment for people with eye problems.[1] It additionally provides the countries it operates in with new medical equipment and infrastructure.[2] By 2019, over 4 million people in 34 countries had received free treatment through the program.[3] The program is integrated into the programs of the ALBA.[4]

Operación Milagro
Violeta Menjivar, minister of health in El Salvador (left) and minister of health in Cuba Roberto Morales (right) signing an agreement regarding eyecare through the program.
English nameOperation Miracle
Time2004-present
LocationCuba and Venezuela (domestic), Latin America and Africa (foreign missions)
Organized byThe Governments of Cuba and Venezuela
Outcome3 million patients cured of visual impairment (2015)

While in the initial phase of the program patients were transported to Cuba to be attended there, by 2017 there were 69 ophthalmological centers in 15 countries, carrying out vision-saving and restoring surgery.[5]

Origins

Vision impairment is a greater issue in the Global South, as in 2015 ninety percent of all visually impaired people lived in the developing world.[2] Latin America specifically struggles with a lack of access to healthcare and malnourishment, directly affecting the eyesight of millions in the region.[6] Eye surgeries can cost upwards of $10,000 in medical costs.[4] Issues regarding poor medical systems has led to many of the twentieth century Latin American revolutions addressing gaps in medicine.[6] Since the Cuban Revolution, the government in Cuba has committed itself to advances in healthcare.[6] This includes internationalist missions to Latin America and Africa, which have been an aspect of Cuba’s foreign policy and relationship to the Global South during the twentieth century.[7]

In the post-Soviet world, Cuban medical internationalism has greatly expanded for both political recognition and economic incentive.[7] After Hugo Chávez became the President of Venezuela in 1998, Cuba and Venezuela began an organization in 2003 called the ALBA, economically and politically connecting left-wing Latin American governments.[4] To combat illiteracy, the two governments created an initiative called “Yo, sí puedo,” or “Yes, I can.”[8] However, the program reached a roadblock, as poor vision from a lack access to healthcare in Latin America hampered the ability to read.[2] In 2004, the Cuban and Venezuelan governments then reached an agreement to create a new program to combat the issue of poor vision and blindness, known as Operación Milagro, or Operation Miracle.[2]

Phases and objectives

Operación Milagro can be characterized by three "distinct phases" in its history.[9] The first deals with relations solely between Cuba and Venezuela, that being from 2004 to 2005.[9] During that period, 14,000 Venezuelans were treated in Havana.[9] The second phase occurred in 2005, where Cuba greatly expanded its scope of patients and medical infrastructure, encompassing twenty countries in Latin America.[9] The last phase, starting in 2006, has led to Cuba building eyecare centers in countries where patients are treated, as well as expansion of the program into Africa.[9] As the program continued to grow, Cuban ophthalmology also continued to expand, bringing in up-to-date medical equipment and greater education for ophthalmologists.[10] By 2008, one million had been treated by the program, and two million received care by 2011.[4] Over 4 million people in 34 countries had received free surgery through the program by 2019.[11]

The program's main objective is to provide eyecare at no cost to any of the patients, largely through Cuban medical personnel and Venezuelan subsidization.[2] A crucial aspect of this main goal is creating the medical systems in the "host nation" in order to ensure that the patients in question are not relying solely on the Cuban government.[2] Operación Milagro achieves this through the creation of ophthalmological centers throughout Latin America, including the José Martí Ophthalmology Clinic in Uruguay.[2] Clinics like in Uruguay will scout out patients in rural areas, performing surgeries that would cost at least $5,000 for free.[2] Hospital Saint Bois in Uruguay, which houses the José Martí Ophthalmology Clinic, reported 50,000 surgeries in seven years.[12]

In accordance with Cuban internationalist medical programs created at this time, an ulterior motive to the program is political legitimacy for Cuba and greater economic agency.[9][5] Working in programs like Operación Milagro instills patriotism in Cuban doctors, furthered by the Cuban government's monetary incentives for participating personnel.[9] The program also fits within the ALBA, strengthening economic ties with Venezuela in the face of the U.S. Blockade.[5] The United States embargo on Cuba is also a major catalyst for the economic union between Cuba and Venezuela, as Venezuela helps to purchase the medical capital needed to perform the surgeries in Cuba and elsewhere.[2]

Impacts

International reaction

The United States, critical of the Cuban government and the ALBA's function in Latin America, remains steadfast in attempting to maintain its sphere of influence.[4] WikiLeaks revealed that the United States government was influencing Mexican president Felipe Calderón to resist medical assistance in Mexico through Operación Milagro.[4] Right wing governments have also shown pushback against the expansion of the program, including Panama, where the government created its own program to combat Cuba's.[4] In Peru, the conservative government of Alan García ended ties with Operación Milagro, also noting that they had their own program, which was not only domestic but also more limited in scope.[2] Other nations have accused Cuba of overtaking their professional healthcare systems, worried that Cuban doctors would overshadow medical competition.[9]

Accomplishments and limitations

Regardless of international criticism, the impact of Operacion Milagro have been tremendous, as millions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia have received surgeries for eye problems like cataracts.[13] Countries in the scope of the program include Cuba, Venezuela, Uruguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Angola, Panama, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, among many others.[2] Ironically, one of the patients of the program was Mario Terán, the Bolivian man who executed Che Guevara.[4] Overall, by 2019, over four million people in 34 countries had been cured of their ailments.[5] However, the program does suffer some limitations, as scholar Emily Kirk notes the fact that the program does not fully alleviate poverty and might also be accelerating at a rate Cuban doctors are unable to keep up with.[9]

References
  1. "Más de tres millones de beneficiados con Operación Milagro en diez años". Cubadebate. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  2. Kirk, John M. (2015). Healthcare without Borders: Understanding Cuban Medical Internationalism. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 96–117.
  3. Yaffe, Helen (2020). We are Cuba! : how a revolutionary people have survived in a post-Soviet world. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-300-24551-6. OCLC 1139710255.
  4. Lamrani, Salim. “THE BOUVARIAN ALLIANCE FOR THE PEOPLES OF OUR AMERICA: THE CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION.” International Journal of Cuban Studies 4, no. 3/4 (2012): 347–65.
  5. Yaffe, Helen. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: An Army of White Coats.” In We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, 147–74. Yale University Press, 2020.
  6. "Public Health in Latin America." In An Atlas and Survey of Latin American History, by Michael LaRosa, and German R. Mejia. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2019.
  7. Blue, Sarah A. “Cuban Medical Internationalism: Domestic and International Impacts.” Journal of Latin American Geography 9, no. 1 (2010): 31–49.
  8. Salim Lamrani, and Translated by Larry R. Oberg. “Fidel Castro, Hero of the Disinherited.” International Journal of Cuban Studies 8, no. 2 (2016): 151–68.
  9. Kirk, Emily. “Operation Miracle: A New Vision of Public Health?” International Journal of Cuban Studies 3, no. 4 (2011): 366–81.
  10. "Operation Miracle: an example of humanism and solidarity". en.granma.cu. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  11. Yaffe, Helen (2020). We are Cuba! : how a revolutionary people have survived in a post-Soviet world. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-300-24551-6. OCLC 1139710255.
  12. "50000 OPERACIONES". www.saintbois.com.uy. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  13. Kruijt, Dirk. “Cuba’s Defence Diplomacy: Hard and Soft Power, 1959-2018.” In Defence Diplomacy and National Security Strategy: Views from the Global South, edited by Dirk Kruijt, Ian Liebenberg, and Shrikant Paranjpe, 1st ed., 67–85. African Sun Media, 2020.
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