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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"><font
size="+2"><b>Cuba: U.S. government earmarks millions to hinder
Cuban medical cooperation</b></font><br>
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<font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/news/cuba-us-government-earmarks-millions-to-hinder-cuban-medical-cooperation-20190829/">http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/news/cuba-us-government-earmarks-millions-to-hinder-cuban-medical-cooperation-20190829/</a></font></div>
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<h4><small>August 19, 2019<br>
</small></h4>
<p> 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: </p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> 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.</p>
<p> <strong>Havana, 29 August 2019<br>
</strong></p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
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