Radio Havana Cuba-08 August 2000 23:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 August 2000 03:00 *CUBAN DOCTORS ABROAD: A REVOLUTION MEDICINE *BRAZILIAN, CUBAN EXPERTS PLAN COOPERATION IN HEALTH FIELD *CUBAN HEALTH PROFESSIONS ON THEIR WAY TO NIGER *CUBA ANNOUNCES MORE PLACES FOR LATIN AMERICAN MEDICAL STUDENTS *LATIN-CARIB SOLIDARITY BRIGADE DEPARTS AFTER 7TH VISIT TO CUBA *Viewpoint-GOP PLATFORM:"MORE US ATTENTION" TO LATIN AMERICA IN NEXT CENTURY *CUBAN DOCTORS ABROAD: A REVOLUTION MEDICINE Havana, August 8 (RHC)-- Cuba's assistance to the Third World -- sending doctors and medical personnel to Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa -- "constitutes a revolution in the area of medicine." During a meeting with 70 Cuban doctors, on vacation in Havana afterserving for one year in the African nation of Gambia, Cuban President Fidel Castro asked them about their experiences and the results of their work. Explaining that the health conditions in most of Africa cannot even remotely compare to those of Cuba, the doctors stated that the infant mortality rate in Gambia was 121 for every 1000 live births before Cuban doctors arrived in the country (infant mortality in Cuba is currently 6.4). The doctors noted that over the past year, independent health studies have shown that Gambia's infant mortality now stands at 90. The health specialists, who are offering their services free-of- charge, reported that the 154 Cuban doctors working in Gambia over the past 12 months have treated nearly 76,000 patients and performed over 4800 operations. Cuban President Fidel Castro met with the group of doctors and medical personnel for almost two hours Monday night, congratulating them on a job well don.They returned to Gambia early this morning to continue their life-saving work. *BRAZILIAN, CUBAN EXPERTS PLAN COOPERATION IN HEALTH FIELD Havana, August 8 (RHC)-With the signing of a letter of intent in the field of health Tuesday, in Havana, Brazil and Cuba continue to strengthen bilateral relations. Luis A. Chirino is covering the event and files this report. "Visiting Brazilian Governor of the state of Amazonas, Amazonino Armando Mendez, and the President of Cuba's LABIOFAM pharmaceutical laboratories, Jose Fraga Castro, signed the document which gives the green light to the creation of a joint enterprise, in the Amazon region, to produce biological agents to fight malaria, among other products.The Brazilian official arrived on Monday at the invitation of the President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada. The delegation also includes the Secretaries of Health, Education, and the Director of the Tropical Medicine Institute of the Amazonas region, among other government and health officials. Upon their arrival in Havana, the Govnernor of the Amazonas region told Radio Havana Cuba that his visit's main purpose is to implement the Cuba-Brazil joint project of a pharmaceutical industry in Brazil, in order to contribute not only to the improvement of his country's health indicators but, also, to help other Latin American nations through the exports of Cuban biological products used in the fight against diseases as in the case of malaria. According to the letter of intent signed on Tuesday, by both parties, Cuba will contribute technology while Brazil will finance the joint enterprise. Amazonino Armando Mendez said that Brazilian authorities are very pleased to carry out the project since the Cuban product has already been successfully applied in Brazil to fight malaria. During his three day visit to Cuba, the Brazilian delegation will also meet with the President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, and will visit places of interest like the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute and Havana's Biotechnology Center. The Brazilian Governor of the State of Amazonas, Armando Mendez, and his delegation, will return to Brazil on Wednesday. *CUBAN HEALTH PROFESSIONS ON THEIR WAY TO NIGER Havana, August 8 (RHC)-Cuban health professionals have left for Niger to continue the island's integral cooperation program in Third World nations. A brigade of 64 Cuban health workers will join another 30 specialists who have been offering their services free of charge since 1999. Cuba's integral health cooperation program began in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch hit Central America. Since then, Cuba has been sending medical brigades to a variety of developing countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Belize, Paraguay, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Haiti, Niger and Zimbabwe. *CUBA ANNOUNCES MORE PLACES FOR LATIN AMERICAN MEDICAL STUDENTS Havana, August 8 (RHC)-The Latin American School of Medicine, created by Cuba in 1999, will increase its enrollment next year, according to the school's Dean, Dr. Juan Carrizo. Over three thousand students from 19 Latin America countries, and Ecuatorial Guinea, are currently studying in Havana's Latin American School of Medicine as part of an integral health program which was implemented by Cuba to aid Third World Countries. Dr. Carrizo explained that the number of students enrolling to study medicine on the island from Sub-Saharan African countries is on the rise. Sub-Saharan nations have the most critical health conditions in the world. *LATIN-CARIB SOLIDARITY BRIGADE DEPARTS AFTER 7TH VISIT TO CUBA Sancti Spiritus, August 8 (RHC)-Over 300 members of the 7th Latin American and Caribbean solidarity with Cuba brigade ended their visit on Tuesday in the central province of Sancti Spiritus. The brigadistas visited the camp of the Heroic Guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara in the Escambray mountains after participating in the Open Tribune. The Open Tribune was held last Saturday, in western Pinar del Rio province, on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban people's struggle against the Batista dictatorship. Invited by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People's, ICAP, the solidarity activists arrived in Cuba on July 31st and are expected to return home next weekend after doing volunteer work in agricultural areas around Havana. *Viewpoint GOP PLATFORM: "MORE US ATTENTION" TO LATIN AMERICA IN NEXT CENTURY U.S. policy towards Latin America throughout history has been that of interventionism and interference in the internal affairs of nations, with the expressed purpose of imposing Washington's mandates and regulations on regional governments.It is now said that the time of the U.S.-supported military dictatorships that submerged the subcontinent into death and human suffering for decades is finally over and that democratic regimes have been restored in the region. However, today's Latin American governments continue to respond one way or another to U.S. interests.Further evidence of this is that most Latin American nations are currently immersed in the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies, suggested by the U.S.-controlled International Monetary Fund, the IMF. The recipe has been sold to these countries as the ideal formula to reduce their foreign debts and poverty rates. Reality has proven those theories to be nothing but a complete fallacy. What is really happening in Latin America is a growing social crisis, leading to an ever-stronger movement against neo-liberalism.The sudden interest in Latin America expressed in the Philadelphia Platform approved by the Republicans in their convention can only be understood within the context of the current interests of US ruling circles.While reinforcing the dependence of Latin American countries on the United States, perhaps the U.S. Republican leadership is trying to revitalize its old-fashioned plans to isolate Cuba from the rest of the continent, as they did during the early years of the Revolution. They insist on the political error of underestimating the strength of the Cuban people and their determination to defend the Revolution.The Cuba section in the U.S. Republican platform of the year 2000 recalls parts of the Reagan Era Santa Fe Document of 1983. Both papers insist that Cuba should carry out radical changes in its socio-economic system, the same system that has enabled the island to resist for 40 years now, without yielding to Washington's constant pressures. They are demanding that Cuba should abandon the free education and health care system and other essential social achievements that have significantly improved the living conditions of the Cuban people. Nothing could sound more irrational and arrogant.Regarding Washington's intentions towards Latin America, if there's a sincere interest on its part to help the nations south of the Rio Grande, there will be no better aid than assisting those countries to put an end to their overwhelming social and economic problems, without resorting to the manipulation of corrupt governments that have failed to satisfy their peoples' basic needs. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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