Cuba: Science forgotten, rescued and renewed

Cuban Radar                                                                           Read Spanish Version

Cuba:
Science forgotten, rescued and renewed

A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau

When
in October, 1953, a young Fidel Castro delivered his famous "History
Will Absolve Me" closing statement at his trial for the attack
on Moncada Barracks, he stressed the pressing need for resorting to
science and technology to stem the economic deterioration and
underdevelopment that foreign domination implies.

An
interesting fact of the time was that national scientific activity
was characterized by its weakness and dispersion. Proof of this can
be demonstrated by the fact that the Academy of Sciences was under
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, the Geographical Society
under the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the National Observatory
was a department of the Navy.

A
mission from the International Bank for Development visited Cuba in
the 1950s and reported that it had not found "a single adequate
laboratory for applied research, whether private or public."

In
1960, the first scientific policy for the country was drawn up by
leaders of the Cuban revolution with the creation of scholarship
plans for mid- and university-level students who were sent abroad for
postgraduate courses. The first scientific institutions were also set
up where hundreds of pre- and postgraduate students trained. This, in
time, generated a scientific agenda directly linked to the country’s
needs.

That
policy advanced in the 1980s with the creation of new scientific
institutions with state of the art technology that promoted research
and production of top of the line products, such as national
production of natural and recombinant interferon; the vaccine against
meningococcal type B meningitis (the only one in the world);
immuno-enzimatic diagnostics’ systems for the early detection of
congenital malformation of the nervous central system or of avoidable
diseases such as congenital hypothyroidism.

Other
medicines and products created and distributed included PPG against
high cholesterol levels; the Cuban vaccine against hepatitis B; basic
and clinical studies on dengue fever; successive generations of Cuban
diagnosis jeans for the detection of HIV and national production of
anti-retroviral products.

Recently,
international attention has been focused on Cuba due to discovery of
a synthetic antigen that allows the efficient and economic production
of a vaccine against the dangerous agent H.
influenzae,
which can cause severe neurological consequences, and the creation
and production of the first vaccine against lung cancer.

The
U.S. government’s political and economic attacks against Cuba have
been dealt with while these and other scientific achievements
were attained. Despite these aggravations many foreign observers feel
that these actions have also helped to spur on Cuban scientists.

Increase
of oil production in Cuba’s western shores

Yadira
García, Cuba’s Minister of Basic Industries, stressed the
importance of continued increase of oil production to ease the
unstoppable escalation of fuel prices.

In
a declaration to Cuban TV, Minister García praised production
efforts which and divulged a figure of one million tons of crude oil
by the Western Enterprise for Drilling and Extraction — 10 days
before the same 2007period. It was the eighth consecutive time.

This
was made possible because of high productive rates, a coefficient of
exploitation of the wells of 97%, and the introduction of new
technologies for the treatment of heavy oil and natural gas.

The
Western Enterprise for Drilling and Extraction plans to reach its
second million tons figure by the end of the year, partly as tribute
to the 50thy Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Central
region surpasses production of crude oil and gas

The
Central Region Enterprise for Drilling and Extraction surpassed its
production plan for the first semester, both in crude oil and
accompanying gas.

Through
the end of June, its workers had produced 559,752 tons of oil,
110,376 more than projected. Production of accompanying gas was
surpassed by 31 million cubic meters. 

Another
first semester achievement was the decrease, by 25 pesos (a little
over one dollar), of the planned cost of a ton of oil.

In
2007, this enterprise was able to produce a million tons for the
thirteenth consecutive time since the company was founded 40 years
ago.

Also
announced that storage centers 1, 7, and 10 received the
Acknowledgement for National Environment awarded by the Ministry of
Science, Technology and the Environment due to their work on behalf
of the environment

Urban agriculture
sets the standard

The
movement of urban agriculture sets the standard for new measures that
are being studied to reanimate traditional agriculture, said María
del Carmen Pérez, acting minister for Agriculture.

In
a Cuban TV and radio Informative Round Table appearance, Minister
Pérez said that after 20 years, urban agriculture still has
growth potential, and reminded the audience that 75 percent of the
Cuban population lives in cities.

She
explained that the integration of productive and scientific
institutions, as well as social organizations, around a productive
objective, and payment to those workers according to results achieved
are some of the many experiences obtained from urban agriculture
which could contribute in facing the challenges of conventional
agriculture.

Nevertheless,
she admitted, that there are still shortcomings to be solved, among
them completion of the number of seed faros and increase the sources
of organic fertilizer.

"We
must produce more, both in urban and traditional agriculture,"
said Minister Pérez, to "stabilize results to satisfy
needs and lower prices."

The
development of agriculture in populated areas is present in the form
of organic farms, intensive vegetable gardens and other modalities in
every municipality of the country, including the Zapata Swamp, Cuba’s
largest wetlands, where plants are grown on plots of coral reef.
Adjoining the growing areas, there are more than 11,000 points of
sale locations.

According
to experts, expectations are to supply every Cuban with 400 grams of
vegetables and fruits per day.

Santiago’s
scientific community contributes

The
development of state of the art medical equipment and studies on the
use of electrotherapy to treat cancer are among the 50 scientific
advances achieved in the province of Santiago de Cuba.

Presently
there is an initiative to acknowledge individuals, groups and centers
that have made significant contributions that will be published in
multimedia presentations and data bases.

Pedro
Beatón, president of the Scientific Advisory Board, and other
experts recently announced Santiago’s selected works from among
more than 100 proposals.

Among
the most outstanding were "Applied Biotechnology for the
Exploitation of Residuals of Coffee Growing," "Atlas of
Santiago de Cuba," and "A Map of Seismic Risk of Santiago
de Cuba."

The
uses of electromagnetism to increase industrial efficiency, as well
as obtaining environmentally safe LB-12 refrigerating gas, are
significant achievements in technical disciplines. Included in the
field of agriculture are the introduction and development of
biological pesticides and the integrated management of plagues in
coffee growing.

A
fundamentally agricultural region with high rates of poverty just 50
years ago, at present Santiago de Cuba is one of the country’s main
scientific strongholds with a marked tendency towards biomedicine and
pharmacology.