DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: UN Issues International Call for Help

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Dec 18 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations launched a call to the international community Friday to prevent the effects of two successive natural disasters from further aggravating the economic crisis that has had Cuba in its grips for the past eight years.

The Caribbean nation is facing an emergency situation after a more than seven-month severe drought and the passage of Hurricane Georges, said a document presented in Havana by resident UN coordinator Ariel Francais.

The UN official said some 90 million dollars were needed from the international community to support ongoing restoration efforts.

The document said the impact of adverse weather conditions on two growing seasons would lead to a new fall in Cuba’s already low food production over the following nine months.

As a consequence, food shortages would be aggravated, especially among the country’s hardest-hit populations, the communique warned.

It added that Cuba’s limited import capacity would make it difficult to cover food shortages with products from abroad, and warned of potential risks of contamination of water supplies, as well as the appearance of water-borne and vector-borne transmissible diseases.

The call issued by all UN agencies and funds with representation in Cuba was launched simultaneously in Geneva by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Over the past few months, Cuba has sent medical personnel to assist several Central American countries hit hard by Hurricane Georges, even though it lacks the resources needed to tackle its own problems, admitted sources close to the UN system, who preferred to remain anonymous.

The document said the Cuban population had suffered a serious food deficit, with the resultant effects on nutritional levels, since the economic crisis broke out in the early 1990s.

According to Cuba’s National Office of Statistics, in 1995 consumption of energy and nutrients by Cuba’s population of 11 million failed to meet the recommended levels, with the exception of vitamin C. From 1989 to 1995, per capita consumption diminished 65 percent in terms of calories, 60 percent in proteins, 63 percent in fats and 67 percent in vitamin A. During that period, production of tubers, produce, grains, rice, citrics, fruit, milk, eggs and meat fell between 40 and 90 percent.

Last year, Cuba was included on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) list of low income-countries with food shortages.

The social sector has also suffered serious effects due to the economic crisis, as evidenced by the decrease in available health services and the drop in the quality of education, according to the UN document.

The prolonged drought and Hurricane Georges affected some 34,500 rural families, caused 305.8 million dollars in losses to the Cuban economy, and damaged 202,000 hectares of plantations and pastures, the communique added.

In order to understand the current difficulties, it is necessary to situate them in the context of the problems that the country has been facing since the sharp fall of its gross domestic product (GDP) from 1990 to 1993, it stated.

Over the past two years, the rate of growth of the Cuban economy once more suffered a relative drop, the document pointed out, after rallying in 1994 and posting 2.5 percent growth in 1995 and 7.8 percent in 1996.

While government officials estimate that GDP has grown one percent this year, local experts say the forecast can be considered optimistic.

A study by the Havana-based Centro de Investigaciones de la Economia Mundial (Centre of Research on the Global Economy), found that in the past 20 years UN agencies had provided 301.5 million dollars in assistance to Cuba.

Francais said one of the main aims of UN cooperation was to keep the economic crisis from rolling back the social gains achieved by Cuba in the past four decades.

The magnitude of the needs described by the call for international aid far outstrips the country’s capacities and the initial assistance obtained, and more and larger contributions are needed, the communique concluded.