FARMINGTON – The infant mortality rate in Cuba is lower than in the United States, and more than 25,000 Cuban doctors are working overseas.

“Health care in Cuba is better, I think,” said Thomas Whitney of Paris, a retired pediatrician and member of Let Cuba Live. But, there’s an information blockade so most Americans only know when bad things happen in Cuba, he said.

Whitney and others will hold a public forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, at the UMF Art Gallery on Main Street on Cuba and why, as well as how, a group is planning to go to Cuba this summer.

Let Cuba Live, Whitney said, has met monthly over the last 15 years and includes members from all over the state whose goal is to improve the relationship between Cuba and the United States.

To accomplish their goal, they want to inform people about Cuba and the U.S. economic blockade of the island that has been in effect for the last 45 years. Along with a discussion Wednesday, Whitney plans to show a couple of films, one of which gives the story of the Cuban doctors working overseas.

The group centers its work on three objectives as stated on its Web site, www.letcubalive.org. They are: respecting the sovereignty of Cuba and the independence of the Cuban people; giving U.S. citizens the ability to travel to Cuba freely and without restrictions; and ending the economic blockade against Cuba.

Whitney said there are a few UMF students and graduates who have participated in trips to Cuba, and there are others interested, and that is why a program is being presented at UMF.

Whitney has traveled to Cuba eight or nine times since the 1990s. Trips are either legal or in civil disobedience, he said. The legal ones are opportunities to go and learn especially about their medical care and schools where doctors could go and research their primary care for a week or teachers could look at their schools. These opportunities have changed, he said. Now, it’s mostly only allowed for a six-month period of research for those working on a doctoral degree. The civil disobedience trips are not legal because they provide humanitarian aid without asking for a license.

One other trip to be discussed Wednesday, the Venceremos Brigade, also planned for this summer, will offer participants an opportunity for two weeks to work in areas such as harvesting sugar cane or building homes and to experience living conditions unknown to most Americans. While travel to Cuba is restricted by the U.S. government, the Venceremos Brigade believes it is its right as citizens to freely travel, and they never ask for permission to travel to Cuba, he said.

The Wednesday program is free and open to the public whether they have interest in the trips or would just like to learn more about Cuba. For more information, phone Jake at 577-7292.