As a Cuban neurologist now living outside the island I was shocked to say the least with the opinion expressed in the Cuban Optic Neuropathy entry of this book.

This condition appeared on the island around 1992 (previous cases had been reported in Cuban soldiers fighting in Angola as far back as the early 80's) following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the sudden absence of the massive subsidies it provided to Cuba. This and the chronic failure of the Cuban socialist economy produced a widespread malnutrition in the population which led directly to the disease we are considering and not the American embargo or the US Cuban Democracy Act as is expressed in the book.