Fidel Castro Smirnov did not recognize the serious public health crisis that is going through the island.
Miami, United States. – In Interview with the “Last look” programfrom CNN Chile, Fidel Castro Smirnov, grandson of the late dictator Fidel Castro, defended that Cuba is a medical power and attributed the main obstacles to the sanctions of the United States.
“Since science begins to develop in Cuba, there is also a genocidal, opportunistic block, which has had its maximum expression during Trump’s first government with 243 additional measures (…) Then came drums that maintained all these measures and we have this government so aggressive and in those circumstances of recruiting block we have to continue doing science,” he justified.
Castro Smirnov, who is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and professor of nuclear physics and researcher at the Higher Institute of Applied Technologies and Sciences (INSTEC), also insisted on the alleged medical and scientific strength accumulated by Cuba, although their statements contrast with reports of international organizations and with official data that describe a health system tensioning for the shortage of medicines and supplies, migration of personnel and faults energy that affect essential services.
Fidel Castro’s grandson said that “science is a point of union between peoples” and that “Cuba continues to receive” foreign patients. Also claimed that “during pandemic [la Isla] He developed five vaccine candidates, of which three arrived in vaccine, ”and cited the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) as“ one of the most beautiful and most human creations of the revolution ”.
Castro Smirnov did not recognize the serious public health crisis on the island, which includes the serious shortage of medicines and supplies, the lack of specialists and the bad structural conditions of health centers. In that sense, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports that the socioeconomic crisis in Cuba has resulted in “shortage of medicines and supplies” and in a “growing migration of health personnel”, which has “tension” the health system and affected sanitary results.
Even official means and leaders of the regime have recognized the crisis: in July 2024, the Minister of Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, recognized: “We have been working with 30% of the basic picture supplied.”
And in July of this year, Cubadebate reported That infant mortality in the first half of 2025 had risen to 8.2 per 1,000 live births, compared to 7.4 in 2024, a setback with respect to historical standards of the country.
On the other hand, the instability of the electrical system – with five national collapses in the last year – has impacted critical infrastructures such as hospitals and other health centers.
Despite the evidence, Castro Smirnov said that the status of “medical power” of Cuba was based on decisions of his grandfather, Fidel Castro, and in millionaire state investments in the scientific pole. He also assured that, even in crisis, he opted for his own abilities, citing the creation of biotechnological centers and products.
The contradiction is accentuated because, although Castro Smirnov states that “Cuba continues to receive” patients and that the country “made five vaccination candidates” during COVID-19, official and multilateral sources describe a public system with coverage and quality limited by sustained shortage-at least since 2024-, worse results in 2025 and a fragile energy infrastructure.
Castro Smirnov in Chile
The reason for Castro Smirnov’s trip to Chile, as he explained to CNN, was an agenda with graduates and academic centers. As a “honorary member” of the International Medical Society of Graduates of the Latin American Medicine School ”he attended the XII ELAM-CHILE GRADUATE MEETING in Valparaíso (August 29 and 30), in addition to holding exchanges with the University of Chile, the University of Santiago and a virtual meeting with the president of the Academy of Sciences of Chile.
“One of our goals is to strengthen relations between our academies,” he said.
In addition, several Chilean portals reported that Castro Smirnov, on their first visit to the country, issued the conference “Sciences for Life: Scientific Research, Creation and Social Change in Latin America and the Third World” at the Condell headquarters of the University of Christian Humanism Academy.
“In the meeting organized by the Faculty of Health and Good Living the grandson of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, shared his impressions about the role of medicine and scientific innovation in the construction of socialism in his country,” he reported Digital Chronicle.
In addition, Fidel Castro’s grandson took the occasion to make “a count of the main milestones of scientific development on the island during the last six decades,” according to the aforementioned medium.
