And our children s children were born blockaded. But here we are, you and us, proclaiming once again and as always that Cuba is not alone, that there are many of us, that with every day that passes there will be more of us and that although there have been 40 years of blockade, there have also been 40 years of solidarity. While infant mortality in Latin America is 80 per 1,000 live births, in Cuba it is less than seven, far below the figure for many cities in the United States. Cuba also has the world s highest ratio of doctors to the general population, that is, one per every 176 people. Ninety-two per cent of the people have completed secondary education and, while there were only three universities before the Revolution, there are now 57.
All education is free and stipends are provided to all university students.
Vice President Carlos Lage, in his address to the conference, described the tremendous hit Cuba had taken when the Soviet Union and the European socialist governments fell. Because of the blockade, Cuba has also been denied anything other than short-term, high interest development loans from the international banks. Despite the extreme difficulties, the government, after extensive discussions throughout the country, pursued a policy of sharing its limited resources. Not a single school or hospital was closed, no jobs were eliminated and income levels were maintained. For the past six years, Lage said, Cuba has slowly recovered with an average growth rate of 4.4 percent a year, significantly higher than the three per cent rate in the rest of Latin America.