[News] Cuba: U.S. government earmarks millions to hinder Cuban medical cooperation

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*Cuba: U.S. government earmarks millions to hinder Cuban medical 
cooperation*

http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/news/cuba-us-government-earmarks-millions-to-hinder-cuban-medical-cooperation-20190829/


        August 19, 2019

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly 
rejecting a USAID program against Cuban medical cooperation. Cuban News 
Agency reproduces the full text of the statement:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denounces and condemns the 
recent aggression against Cuba by the Government of the United States 
through a USAID program aimed at financing actions and the search for 
information to discredit and sabotage the international cooperation 
provided by Cuba in the area of health in dozens of countries and for 
the benefit of millions of people. It is an effort that adds to the 
gross pressures exerted against various governments to hinder Cuban 
cooperation and to previous efforts of the same purpose, such as the 
special parole program aimed at the theft of human resources trained in 
Cuba.

The core of the immoral slander consists in alleging, without any 
foundation, that Cuba engages in human trafficking or the practice of 
slavery and in attempting to denigrate the meritorious work that 
hundreds of thousands of Cuban health professionals and technicians in 
various countries, particularly in the Third World, have voluntarily 
carried out throughout history.

This is an insult to the bilateral and intergovernmental cooperation 
programs, all legitimately established between the Cuban government and 
the governments of dozens of countries, which have been consistent with 
the United Nations guidelines on South-South cooperation and have 
responded to the health requirements that those governments themselves 
have sovereignly defined.

It is an attempt against a solidarity effort that has received the 
recognition of the international community and the specific praise of 
the highest executives of the United Nations, the World Health 
Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.

These lies are revealing of the low moral standing of the U.S. 
government and the politicians who are in the business of aggression 
against Cuba. The campaign has millions of dollars in funds and the 
complicity of several major media outlets and, in particular, 
unscrupulous reporters who sacrifice their supposed impartiality and 
objectivity to serve the political interests of the U.S. government.

For decades and even today, in those nations with the most unfavorable 
economic conditions, this cooperation has been and is being offered as a 
gesture of solidarity, whose expenses are covered almost entirely by 
Cuba. Similarly, and in line with the United Nations conceptions of 
cooperation among developing countries, it is offered in several nations 
on the basis of complementarity and partial compensation for services 
rendered.

It consists of a totally fair and legitimate exchange among developing 
countries, many of which have natural wealth, economic dimensions or 
higher levels of industrial development than Cuba, but lack the human 
resources that our State has managed to generate; dedicated 
professionals and humanists willing to work in the most difficult 
conditions; and the concepts of health coverage that years of successful 
experience have allowed us to build.

The Cuban technicians and professionals who participate in these 
programs do so absolutely freely and voluntarily. During the fulfillment 
of their mission, they continue to receive their full salary in Cuba and 
also have a stipend in the country of destination, along with other 
forms of compensation.

In cases in which Cuba receives compensation for the cooperation 
provided, these collaborators have the merit of providing a highly 
valuable, fair and totally legitimate contribution to the financing, 
sustainability and development of the free and massive health system 
that is accessible to each and every Cuban, as well as to the 
cooperation programs that are deployed in many parts of the world.

Access to health is a human right and the United States commits a crime 
by denying it or obstructing it with political motives or aggression.

*Havana, 29 August 2019
*

-- 
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