VP @ Global Health Partners

New York, NY
Joined January 2012
I've had criticisms of the convoy, its politicization, & the simplistic, naive diagnoses of Cuba's problems from some leaders/participants. Disagreements aside, I can also respect orgs like GHP that have been sending critical medical aid for for yrs, mostly out of the spotlight.
LIVE on @CNN 🇨🇺 The Nuestra América Convoy delivers tons of critical medical aid to the Cuban people, as hospitals run on "life support" as a result of @POTUS siege of the island — feat. Bob Schwartz, Executive Director of Global Health Partners. Watch now 🎥
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
🇨🇺 Antibiotics, insulin, asthma inhalers, and even basic painkillers are now scarce or unavailable in Cuba, a U.S.-based humanitarian group warned, as the U.S. government continues to “punish Cuba” and “strangle the Cuban economy.” Bob Schwartz, head of Global Health Partners, told CNN that the country’s health system is now “pretty much on life support,” after years of tightening U.S. sanctions. The group has sent more than $275 million in medical aid to Cuba over three decades, but Schwartz said shortages have worsened dramatically in recent months. He pointed to extreme gaps in care, including a three-year waiting list for pacemakers. “You don’t last three years,” he said. Schwartz said sanctions and Cuba’s terrorism designation block access to global banking systems, making it “almost impossible” to import medical supplies. He added that with commercial routes cut off, aid often has to be flown in by charter or shipped through limited cargo channels. He called the embargo “immoral” and warned it is “killing people,” adding humanitarian aid alone cannot sustain the system long term.
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I was a member of this delegation. I’ll have more to say over the next while but a highlight for me was meeting Cuban doctors who have a completely different (and imo better) model of patient care than we do in the US but are deeply short on supplies due to the embargo 1/3
Last week, we were honored to send a delegation of 40 DSA elected leaders & rank-and-file members from chapters big & small across the country to #Cuba, where they delivered hundreds of pounds of solidarity aid & learned about the achievements & challenges of Cuban socialism.
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🚨 Over 50 elected officials, labor leaders, and solidarity organizations nationwide are calling on @POTUS to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, ease Trump-era sanctions, and send humanitarian aid. It’s time to act. international.dsausa.org/cub…
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World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza. Read our full statement on the loss of our team members here: wck.org/news/gaza-team-updat…
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
I am still swimming in culture shock after returning from this delegation. Cuba is a place of intense contradiction, of deep solidarity & hope but also of heartbreak and hardship. I will have so much more to say on this soon, but for now: the economic blockade of Cuba must end.
This week, DSA sent a multi-tendency delegation of forty-four organizers (including six members of our NPC) to Havana. This fact-finding delegation represented various national working groups, national and local leadership, elected officials, and rank and file membership. 1/7
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#BREAKING | The City Council of the largest city in the United States, New York City, has just approved Resolution 0285-A, which calls on the US government to lift the embargo & travel ban on Cuba as well as its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. legistar.council.nyc.gov/Leg…
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“Whenever a group of students passes by here, I tell them: ’I don’t ask that you change bc you are going to live in a capitalist country. I only ask that you not let anyone die because they don’t have the money.” Ileydis Iglesias, Director of Cuba’s Endocrinology Institute
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“Ichiro Girl” reuniting with Ichiro is the most wholesome thing we’ve ever seen 🥹
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Estamos en #Matanzas junto al presidente @DiazCanelB para acompañar al pueblo matancero y a las autoridades de la provincia en estos difíciles momentos. Con el apoyo del Cuerpo de Bomberos y los trabajadores de Cupet saldremos adelante. No hay espacio para el desaliento.
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
Cuba solicita cooperación internacional para sofocar gran incendio Cuba solicitó hoy ayuda y asesoramiento internacional para sofocar el gran incendio que sigue sin control en una base de supertanqueros de crudo en Matanzas
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
Does @Walmart care that counterfeit product is being passed off on their website? Outrageous @walmarthelp Can you tell the difference? And where’s @Gillete on all this?
Bob Schwartz retweeted
A picture from the last time I saw you. Always beautiful. Nothing I could say would top the enormity of my love for you. Until we meet again darling. #clorisleachmanrip
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It's Thursday. Let's give away a book! What do you say, @DanRather? We're giving away one autographed hardcover copy of #WhatUnitesUs! Retweet this by 11:59pm ET 11/12/20 to enter for a chance to win. Winner randomly selected. US only, age: 18+. RULES: ow.ly/KaFV50CiRJU
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
COVID is sadness. Profound sadness. It is suffering, and sacrifice. It is perhaps the greatest abdication of presidential responsibility in American history. I have seen a lot of death and tragedy in my lifetime. But this shakes me to the core, completely and irrevocably.
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Todas y todos somos #Bolivia, volvamos a llenar nuestra mirada de amor, esperanza y reconciliación. Trabajemos unidos y de corazón para reconstruir un nuevo país donde volvamos a mirarnos con respeto. ¡Jallalla Bolivia!
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Replying to @BrunoRguezP
Hoteles Cuba son bien público, con participación extranjera en administración. Ingresos Cuba, genera empleos,apoya turismo y sustenta servicios Salud Pública y educación universales. Trump sí es dueño hoteles y pone gbno función beneficiar su fortuna personal y familiar.
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
Healthcare workers @sloan_kettering come out to cheer on and take a knee in support of protestors. The same people NYC has been honoring every night at 7pm now returning the support.
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Muy agradecido con las palabras de aliento y reconocimiento del hermano @rogerwaters. Nuestra lucha pacífica y democrática contra el golpe de Estado trasciende fronteras. Con represión militar-policial y mentiras los golpistas que prometían libertad imponen un Estado dictatorial
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Bob Schwartz retweeted
Most of my parents generation are gone now. Most of my generation are gone. I honor my parents and my family by saying that we cannot let hate stand. We can’t let hate rule the day. We can’t let politicians use hate and fear as their platform. We have to call them on it.
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