Cuba a major benefactor to strife-torn Haiti

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Apr. 25, 2004

Cuba a major benefactor to strife-torn Haiti
By WILLIAM STEIF

Special to The State


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —Killings and chaos have been the main news out of this poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere in recent months.
(snip)

What’s positive is aid from Fidel Castro’s nation, whose eastern tip is only 48 miles across the water from northwest Haiti.

Cuba isn’t coughing up any money, says Cuban ambassador to Haiti Rolando A. Gomez Gonzales. But, he adds, “There are 579 Cuban health specialists in Haiti now, most of them doctors.”
(snip)

In addition, says Gomez, “Our collaboration supports veterinary services. Cuba is training 628 Haitian doctors in Haiti and Cuba. We have a program to combat illiteracy here. We’ve revived the abandoned Haitian sugar industry, and we’re aiding the fishing industry by stocking 7 million fish and hope to reach 15 million a year.”
(snip/...)

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/8514685.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Cuba Welcomes U.S. Sentences for DC-3 Hijackers

Cuba Welcomes U.S. Sentences for DC-3 Hijackers
Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:19 AM ET

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Saturday applauded a U.S. judge's decision to sentence six Cuban plane hijackers to prison terms of at least 20 years and said the action would encourage orderly migration to the United States.

The Foreign Ministry called Wednesday's sentencing in Miami "a positive event that contributes to stop violent attempts to emigrate," according to statement published by the ruling Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

The Cubans were convicted in December of air piracy for commandeering a DC-3 at knifepoint after it took off from Cuba's Isle of Youth and forcing it to Key West on Florida's southern tip on March 19, 2003.
(snip)

Those who arrive on U.S. shores are routinely greeted as heroes by South Florida's anti-Castro Cuban community and receive special treatment under U.S. immigration laws. But the United States prosecutes hijackers and those who smuggle Cubans into Florida.
(snip)

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[JoFerret]

2. 579 Health specialists

and training 628 Haitian doctors and a program to combat illiteracy.
If only we could say the same.

[Mika]

3. Cuba is training US medical students too

In exchange.. that they work in underserved poor areas in the US for several years.

Viva Cuba!

Cuba trains disadvantaged US medical students
http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/0801/news/269c.html


Cuba trains American medical students — to work in US
http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/cdn_medical_association/cmaj/vol-164/issue-10/1477a.asp