Artemisa, Cuba - Several sectors of the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños daily face the limitations of the unjust and genocidal blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba.

For more than 50 years, its consequences have been reflected in health and education centers and scientific institutions, which bring considerable results to Cuba. Even so, the Cuban workers and the whole town surpass the imposed fences and rise in order to overthrow the policies that are intended to destroy the reality of the Cubans.

Dr. Yamile Borrego Linares, director of Public Health in Ariguanabo, explained that this sector is one of the most vulnerable. “The sector has had to carry out alternatives so as not to affect the services. Currently, we are committed to the use of traditional medicine for the manufacture of medicines, given the lack of raw material in the pharmaceutical industry. It is very difficult to market drugs in third countries, when they could be purchased in the United States, if there were no restrictions imposed by the leaders of the White House in Washington ”

Borrego Linares also pointed out that the US blockade causes limitations, among them, in obtaining chemical reagents, surgical instruments and high-tech equipment for the treatment of different diseases. These are blunt examples of the damage caused by this genocidal blockade.

The National Laboratory of Parasitology, a scientific reference center where parasitic diseases are diagnosed in animals, is another of the target points of this cruel policy. As explained by the director of the center, Luis Méndez Mellor, "every year the Ministry of Agriculture, - to which they are attached -, allocates high monetary figures to acquire the technical equipment needed in the institution." These equipments cannot be bought in markets near the Antillana Island, therefore, it is necessary to look for them in countries like China. The restrictions on access to high international impact publications and to the execution of bank transfers are also added.

These days, the strengthening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba has increased. Despite the restrictions, the authorities of Ariguanabo insist on the preparation of medical personnel, on primary health care and on the provision of quality services.