“Sicko” no Moore in Cuba | Wikileaks Cable says Filmed Banned for Mythical Portrayal of Castro’s Healthcare
Moore cries conspiracy, says diplomatic cable false, Cubans get free popcorn for watching fantasy film ( We made that last part up, get the point? )
American diplomats made up a story that Michael Moore‘s 2007 documentary, Sicko, in an attempt to discredit the film which painted an unflattering picture of the US healthcare system, the film-maker said today.
A confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks claimed that Castro’s government banned the Oscar-nominated film because it painted such a “mythically” favourable picture of Cuba’s healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a “popular backlash”.
It's all lies says Marxist film maker Michael Moore, who is shaken by his own "Al Gore" moment.
But Moore said that far from being supressed by Havana, the film – which attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system – was shown on national television.
The United States Interests Section in Havana (USINT) – staffed by US foreign service personnel and local staff employed by the department of state, the unit is formally a section of the Embassy of Switzerland, although it operates independently of the Swiss in virtually all but protocol respects.
The secret 2008 cable is based on reports from the USINT’s foreign service health practitioner (FSHP) supposedly based on her conversations with local people, unauthorised visits to Cuban hospitals, and experience of helping USINT American and Cuban personnel access healthcare.
The cable describes a visit made by the FSHP to the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital in October 2007. Built in 1982, the newly renovated hospital was used in Michael Moore’s film as evidence of the high quality of healthcare available to all Cubans.