Article published in Jornal da USP by Hernan Chaimovich, former Co-Chair of IANAS, Full Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Chemistry of the University of São Paulo (USP), and former President of Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
A few days ago, I sent Sergio, a Cuban friend with whom I share years of joint international work, a file by email. Today, I received a long message from him on WhatsApp that, in part, read: “but I couldn’t download it until yesterday due to difficulties with telephone coverage and electricity. This weekend has been especially difficult as we had sequential breakdowns in three of the largest thermoelectric power plants”. These dry, unembellished sentences reflect the situation in Cuba today.
For decades, we met at many international organization meetings where Sergio represented Cuba. Through him, I came to know the Cuban scientific effort, the Cuban Academy of Sciences, and, of course, Havana, which I have visited several times. Far be it from me to analyze the political nature of the Cuban regime. My aim is simply, in a succinct way, to share stories that have touched me involving Sergio and the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
But first, as a scientist, I believe it is necessary to lay out some facts. The blockade, or embargo, that the United States of America (U.S.) imposes on Cuba began gradually in 1960, and it has now been sixty-six years. The total blockade was formalized in 1962, months before the missile crisis, and was tightened afterward. The embargo was reinforced in 1992 and then, in 1996, extended to countries trading with Cuba. More recently, President Trump, who also seems to dislike Brazil’s PIX payment system, imposed restrictions on tankers heading to the island. In addition to receiving few pharmaceutical inputs, the lack of oil – resulting from the U.S. naval blockade – has produced a growing paralysis in transportation and a critical shortage of energy on the island.
In 2002, I participated in a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS), where a proposal was made to organize a commission of experts from the Academies of Sciences of the continent to advise the organization on issues of science, higher education, and technology. Cuba, expelled from the OAS in 1962, remains to this day, by its own choice, the only country in the Americas that is not part of the OAS, despite the 2009 resolution that revoked the 1962 expulsion. It seemed unacceptable to me that the Cuban Academy of Sciences – the oldest academy in the Americas, founded in 1861- be excluded from a scientific committee that should represent all the academies of the continent.
In thinking about how to integrate all academies, and with the support of several Latin American colleagues, the National Academy of Sciences, and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), we founded IANAS (InterAmerican Network of Academies of Science), which includes all the Academies of Sciences of the Americas and the Caribbean. I chaired IANAS for six years. Its scientific programs on Water, Gender, Science Education, Energy, among others – developed by scientists from the continent’s academies – continue to serve as a reference for public policy formulation. The Cuban Academy of Sciences actively participates in these programs.
My friend Sergio, who today has difficulty reading my emails, lives in a country that is being suffocated by a total naval blockade. These are dark times, and the rare rays of light come from cooperation among academies and scientists who, by virtue of their work, believe that contact and dialogue are the path forward for humanity to advance – and now, to survive.
*The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.
