Category: Juan Juan Almeida

The document confirms the country’s top management level of concern regarding the increase in the desertions of the workers (who are not doctors) from the missions, or who, during the missions, focus on arranging individual contracts with the intention of earning money, and providing services that are not even related to healthcare.

The two-page circular was leaked from emails sent to the heads of the provincial health directorates, and could soon become an addendum to Resolution No. 279/2014, which regulates the “Procedure for the development of the availability of human resources that provide medical and health services abroad.”

The measure reflects the need of the Cuban government to increase control over those collaborators (not physicians) who have already completed work abroad, in order to prevent them from repeating missions.

The reactions have not been long in coming from within Cuba.

“So from now on, before preparing each file for the personnel who will travel abroad to support the collaboration from non-medical specialties, we will be required to have a more rigorous control. The idea is to reduce the number of these types of workers, to prevent those who have already done so from traveling abroad again, and thus to cut off the relations they were able to establish during their earlier stay abroad,” said a source consulted by Martí Noticias.

During 2016, the Cuban economy received income from the ‘leasing’ of professional services abroad, mainly health, that totaled over $11.5 billion in US dollars, a figure that far exceeded the estimated income from tourism, which contributed $2.8 billion to the national economy.

“The medical mission is one of the fundamental programs of Cuban public health, it is part of our principles of solidarity, it greatly helps to sustain the country’s economy, it offers a bonus that benefits the volunteer and, above all, it is the basis for the training of better professionals,” added the interviewee. “But every defection or flight, represents a concern for the Cuban authorities because white-coat diplomacy is also an effective tool for political influence.”

Among the restricted data that have escaped into the public domain is the peculiarity that, before the document becomes a resolution, several collaborators of non-medical specialties have shown their dissatisfaction by raising complaints through letters addressed to José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Communist Party and vice president of the Council of State and Ministers that serves the Health sector.

More than 50,000 Cuban collaborators currently serve in 67 countries, about 25,000 of whom are doctors.

The Maduro regime can survive without Havana. Venezuela is the main destination for Chinese investments in Latin America and Russia’s second largest trading partner in the region.

We must understand that, even with the diffuse romantic vision we have of history, Russia today is not the Soviet Union of yesterday. Moscow annulled the “Antillean Titan” when it announced the construction of an international training center in Nicaragua to provide regional training in the fight against drugs. A reasonable decision given that the Central American country has more to offer than Havana. And that’s what the Nicaraguan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luis Molina, let be known in March 2016 when he assured the Montevideo forum that his country wants to offer land to the Russians. “Of the 4.9 million hectares [12+ million acres] available in the country, only one million is being worked, the rest is waiting for the Russians …”

Nor can we say that the today’s Beijing is Mao’s China. The Asian giant has become the world’s leading economic power taking into account its gross domestic product, as well as its geo-economic and geo-strategic  presence and influence in all corners of the planet. However, the Caribbean island does not seem a priority for the golden dragon. Chinese exports to Cuba plummeted in 2017, dropping nearly 30% compared to the same period last year.

The trade between China and Bolivia is remarkable considering the volume of the economy and the Bolivian market. Chinese investments in that nation exceed three billion dollars in mining activities, construction of infrastructure and roads. At the moment, China intends to participate in the megaproject that proposes to build a way to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Without looking away from an island where the rights and freedoms of all its citizens are constantly violated, we should accept that, today, the regional danger is not located in Cuba but in this Russian-Chinese alliance that is emerging as a new world power with an explicit policy — with its overarching geo-influence in our hemisphere — to de-dollarize the world, to extend the use of the encrypted currency. Keep an eye on that.

Maybe it’s a bit late but I want to recall an old saying that my grandmother often repeated when I was about to make a mistake: “The best way to prevent a problem is to stop it before it is one.”

Thus we saw the transformation of doctors and soldiers who, taking up an abandoned line of work became farmers; and lawyers and engineers who left their professions to serve as taxi drivers or sellers of french fries.

It is true, by way of compensation, that the country’s management ordered an increase in the monthly payment to all retirees by enacting laws in this regard; but the continued devaluation of the Cuban peso reduced the real value of the amount of money received by a pensioner so that today, they receive more but it is worth less.

Without wanting to look for culprits but rather to draw attention to finding solutions, it is not difficult to understand that irresponsible policies caused our island to today have one of the oldest populations on the planet. The reasons are well known, emigration increased over time which, in parallel, decreased the birth rate and population growth.

For all elderly, retirement is a desire; except for the Cuban president who, according to the current Social Security law, exceeds his “expiration” limit by more than 20 years, the required number to retire and receive a pension.

But for the common citizen, it is shameful to know that the country exhausted the financial sustainability of the pension system, and that it stretched the fiscal deficit  so much that today there is not enough money to pay pensions throughout the years of retirement.

“Even though the court has not ruled against them, the two self-employed people were subject to a precautionary measure without any justification,” a specialist in labor law who works for the legal department of the National Tax Administration Organization (ONAT) informed Martí Noticias.

As part of the government’s war against self-employment, another restaurant run by Colomé and Cisneros, El Chachachá, located in Monserrate between Tejadillo and Chacón, just behind the Museum of the Revolution, was also closed.

According to the lawyer, the restaurant Starbien offered an exquisite service at affordable prices and managed to stay among the first choice of Cubans and and international tourists for merging service and culinary innovation.

In a short time it went from a quiet but fashionable restaurant to part of a private entrepreneurial group with entrepreneurial leadership. The group bought parts of other restaurants, offered workshops on the use of social networks, financed projects for new entrepreneurs, fostered social works in their environment and distanced itself from many by adopting an aggressive strategy, such as seizing opportunities to expand trade within and outside the island.

The Ministries of Finance and Prices and of Labor and Social Security, along with ONAT, regulate the obligations of Cuban entrepreneurs, but in none of their many ordinances is it clear what the rights are, and what defense or protection is available to the self-employed with aspirations to multiply businesses.

The curiosity that this case arouses is understandable, because it involves one of the children of the once powerful General Colomé Ibarra.

The versions shared in the street accuse Colomé and Cisneros of crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking, influence and others, but the record of the case fails to show any act of corruption, or alteration of the rules established for the private sector, according to reports obtained by Martí Noticias.

“The process that the authorities try to follow against these two entrepreneurs does not have legal logic. It seems to be a settling of accounts ordered by someone who wants to and can make use of the law at will, and also institutions and the national legal-normative order,” said the source.

The new strategy of the government — according to the source — is to turn the rifle of the state sniper towards another sector of those engaged in private initiatives, such as that of non-agricultural construction and/or production cooperatives.

Engineers, programmers, designers, specialists in Support and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), make up this small elite group led by Suárez González, who, upon the conclusion of the elections and the installation of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) in Venezuela, won the recognition of President Nicolás Maduro for working actively and without rest for more than 24 hours in the rapid dissemination of the campaign and the hashtags for use in different platforms.

Social networks are the most active and dynamic phenomenon in the world today, so the tactic that the Cuban government manages is not to impose the benefits of the communist system and its doctrine, but to reach as many users as possible, and try fascinate them by showing the most attractive and unique side of the so-called “revolution.”

To carry the message of the Cuban government through social networks, all the state administration agencies, ministries and the press are subordinated to this commando of technologists and ideologues.

The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Intelligence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), are responsible for transmitting “when and how to act” to the different embassies, consulates, collaborators, and “Friends of Cuba” so that all of them, in unison, can activate profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and support each entrusted mission, whether it be to ask for help for the destruction caused by a hurricane, to enhance the firmness of a people that provide solidarity to a needy nation, to discredit dissidents and/or influence, with the help of cyberspace, the opinion of thousands of young people everywhere in the world.

The most recent action took place during the “Networks Operation for the 149th anniversary of the Beginning of the War of Independence,” on October 10, when the remains of the hero Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and the outstanding patriot Mariana Grajales were buried in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery of Santiago de Cuba (where they joined the remains of José Martí and Fidel Castro).

According to Joaquín, on that occasion, the hashtags #VivaCubaLibre, #Cuba, #10deOctubre, #CubaEsNuestra and #SantiagodeCuba were the most significant.

Currently the cybernetic troop is training on the networks to launch incentive politics with the purpose of collecting opinions to design strategies and hashtags, and to “viralize” the last stage of the nomination process of candidates with a view to the elections for Cuba’s presidential turnover in 2018.

But the main trigger continues to be the lack of planning by Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture, such that hundreds of poultry farms have generated the crisis that Cubans suffer today for the lack of this food source that is such a staple for ordinary Cubans.

A note published on October 1 in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth, the official voice of the Cuban Communist youth) announced that as an emergency measure to meet the needs of the people, the government will sell “more than one million eggs, five per consumer, at a price of 1.10 pesos each.”

I do not know the psychology of birds; but it is crazy that within the Cuban fauna, the hens belonging to the State are the only ones stressed out. The private farmers are, according to all reports, “raking it in,” selling eggs from small producers at 4 pesos each.

The origin of this crisis, which is not the first and I suspect will not be the last, is not found in avian tension, anguish or depression, but in other elements that affect the production of the most popular of all the foods that make up the essential diet and the basic Cuban food basket.

The hurricane is not the culprit. The poultry industry in Cuba has had a continuous and acceptable development, has good breeding stock, mainly in layers, and has achieved a production per bird of 280 eggs per year, with a weight of 3.2 pounds per ten eggs produced. However, by not respecting the living space requirements of these animals, plus the low availability and quality of water, causing a high incidence of prolapse, along with the lack of adequate food, has caused the layers to acquire the vice of picking at each other’s feathers, and harassing their companions, especially when they are in their nests. All this has a very negative effect on egg production.

The egg crisis on the island has no quick solution, and it also affects self-employed workers in restaurants that survive between the desire to hide, the need to trade and the frenzy of the market.

“We have a partner who supplies us with flan, custard, pudding, cakes and other desserts that we offer in the restaurant; but they aren’t selling because if the police grab them in the street with any product that contains eggs in the recipe, they charge them with receiving stolen goods,” explains the owner of a small paladar (private restaurant).

But that small group of restaurant owners who, cautiously and shrewdly, have managed to scale the ladder and break, in plain sight, although invisibly, the egalitarian aesthetic imposed by the Revolution, managed to find harmony in the contradiction and devised the solution (quite expensive, by the way). They travel as a group and import, without formal permits, cartons of egg that accompany them as luggage from Cancun to Havana. No doubt, André Breton (author of the Manifesto of Surrealism), lacked imagination.

“No one arrested him, he showed up at the local police station and after taking statements, they released him; but the [former] star receiver of the Cuban team and deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power (the Cuban Parliament) [father of the injured], used his influence beyond the borders of this small town. He spoke with Raúl Castro’s grandson in Havana and, without anyone expecting it, a counter-order appeared that ended up imprisoning Ferrer for 49 days until the day of the trial,” explains Leonardo Rodríguez, resident of the town of Camajuaní.

During the time that Ferrer Suárez was detained, his family was harassed, threatened and even stoned.

Ferrer says that the people who harass him are taking advantage of the prestige that Ariel Pestano has in the area. Several members of the police, lawyers who know the case and even Lieutenant Colonel Soto, a delegate of the Ministy of the Interior in Caibarién, know that they have been vicious toward Renny, but they cannot act against the power of Pestano and his powerful friend from Havana.

“Maria del Carmen, Renny’s mother, is terrified. She is a person who maintains an irreproachable behavior and, as a worker, there are no complaints about her. She is a selfless teacher who stayed to fight against all odds, facing difficult periods like the mass exodus of workers in the education sector. This is a small town, everyone knows each other and we all know that Renny is a quiet boy who worked as a self-employed person in the shoemakers’ guild. But the Pestano family are boasters who function as modern chieftains. Here in Camajuaní, as in any other small town, being a player on the national team is more important than being mayor,” the source adds.

The trial for Case 42/17 was held on September 6 in the municipal court of San Juan de los Remedios, in the province of Villa Clara. The Pestano family attended; but the boy who was next to the alleged assailant when the altercation took place did not appear at the hearing. Instead, the prosecution put a pair of false witnesses on the stand who were dismissed because the judge could not hide that they did not know the defendant and that the testimony they gave was riddled with inconsistencies. However, Renny Ferrer Sánchez was sentenced to serve one year in prison, with the additional sanction of being restricted from visiting the beach of Caibarién for three years.

“They denied my appeal, I filed a complaint for harassment, but they did not take it into account. I am ready to serve a year in prison, but I am also willing to denounce what happened. Not only for justice, but also so that no one else has to suffer what is happening to me,” Renny Ferrer concluded in a telephone conversation.

An agreement signed on 4 November 1994 by his excellency Señor Pardo García-Peña, former Foreign Minister for the Republic of Columbia, facilitates visas for indeterminate times for Cubans who have a diplomatic passport.

The agreement, ratified on 27 October of that same year, by the former Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, also allows that citizens who are holders of official passports will be allowed to enter Columbia either in transit or to remain in the country for up to 6 months.

The government of Cuba maintains a similar protocol with Belize, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and other 66 countries.

And this is normal. According to international treaties, diplomatic and official passports should be issued only to people who require them for matters of an official nature during their trip abroad. But what the advisers of the government of the United States apparently ignore is that the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) and a group of travel and immigration laws that have been very well designed by the government of the Republic of Cuba, delay the use of this type of documentation to a much wider group.

Decree 26/78, which regulates the use and issuance of passports in Cuba, authorizes the possession of a diplomatic passport to members of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, as well as a very long list of other other officials that includes: Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; heads and deputy heads of departments, heads of sections and officials of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; members of the Council of State; deputies to the National Assembly; members of the Council of Ministers; Presidents of Organizations of the Central State Administration that are not part of the Council of Ministers; General Secretary of the Cuban Workers Center; president and vice president of the Supreme People’s Court; Attorney General of the Republic; deputy prosecutors of the Attorney General’s Office; Judges of the Supreme People’s Court; first secretaries of the Provincial Committees of the Communist Party of Cuba; Presidents of the Provincial Assemblies of Popular Power; vice-presidents and vice-ministers of the Organisms of the Central State Administration; diplomatic and consular officials of the Republic, advisers and commercial, economic, cultural, press, military, air and naval attachés; officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Post; department heads of the National Assembly of People’s Power, of the Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee; advisers to the vice presidents of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers; advisers and officials of the Council of State, Council of Ministers and its Executive Committee, as well as their respective Secretariats; department heads of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and of the Ministry of the Interior; department heads of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment and of the Central Bank of Cuba; delegates to International Conferences or intergovernmental or diplomatic conferences; and as many other officials of the Communist Party of Cuba, the State and the Government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs deems convenient and necessary for the full accomplishment of the entrusted missions; and, very especially, family members of the people listed above. And all this includes authorizing travel even if the trip is not for any official purpose.

Now, if the American intention, in addition to protecting its consular staff assigned to the embassy of Havana, seeks to encourage popular discontent on the island, I am sorry to say that the advisers, at least on the Cuba issue, are more confused than Don Quixote at a wind farm. Popular approval of the Cuban government has just been noted, with the official decision, already published, to eliminate the “authorization” of the passport for Cuban emigrants to Cuba; to allow Cuban citizens residing abroad to enter and exit Cuba on pleasure boats; to allow Cuban citizens who left the country illegally to enter Cuba; and tofacilitate the process so that the children of Cubans living abroad, born abroad, can obtain Cuban citizenship and an identity document. A measure that, incidentally, responds clearly to the current occasion in a theatrical way to show the “integrative” and conciliatory face of the government. It is no coincidence that it was announced at just the moment when the member countries of the United Nations (UN) are preparing once again to vote for or against the Embargo.

Cuba, as always, has an economic, political purpose and seeks to incite the exiled-emigrant pulse; but this time it has a sarcastic addition; repealing the infamous “habilitación” — the special permission now required for Cubans abroad to to return home — and to allow more family and nostalgia-related trips with affordable prices make an infallible convoy. Starting this coming January 1, instead of going out to spend a Saturday night on the town in Miami, it will be cheaper to spend the weekend in Havana.

The trial was held in the Court of Justice of the Military Court, located in Marianao, on October 2, with the relatives of the accused forbidden to be in the court.

The process, delayed twice, came three days after the United Statesdecided to withdraw most of its diplomatic staff from its embassy in Havana, amid growing bilateral tensions over acoustic attacks on 22 members of its legation .

López Milanés was arrested last January at the Havana airport when she was about to travel to Miami. In December 2016, her husband, Milanese Fajardo, a retired Cuban diplomat  had been arrested; he worked at the Permanent Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York. They met in New York and have been married for over 10 years.

Both were being investigated by Department 1 of Cuban Counterintelligence under suspicion of providing information of a secret nature, the use of which could damage state security, according to a source related to the case.

López Miyares was born in Havana in 1959 and left Cuba when he was 8 years old. She was educated in the United States, obtained three doctorates and is a teacher by profession. Shee had recently been repatriated to Cuba.

The trial, registered as Case Number 1 of 2017, took place between 10 am and 2 pm. The inmates arrived at the military court in separate cars, handcuffed and guarded by officers in olive-green uniforms. The defense was undertaken by criminal lawyer Abel Alejandro Solá López.

The mother of López Miyares, who lives in Miami, was able to see her daughter at the entrance to the courtroom, but could not witness the trial, said a source consulted by Martí Noticias.

For the crime of espionage, the prosecution requested 30 years of deprivation of liberty and an equal term of abstention of rights.

“During the investigative process, the prisoners were pressured to modify their statements and influence the prosecutor’s decision,” the source said.

The court handed down a sentence of 13 years for Lopez Miyares and 17 for Milanés Fajardo. The final resolution will be signed on 24 October and the parties will certainly agree to appeal the sentence.

The email explained, briefly, that Mozambique refuses to contract through “More Doctors” (General Integral Medicine), and until further notice Kenya has stopped receiving new Cuban health workers.

This is a hard blow to the program of exporting Cuban doctors, which generates both income and gratitude for the “white coat” diplomatic policy.

In 2016, the program of professional services — primarily medical — generated $11.5 billion dollars in income for the Cuban treasury, a figure that greatly exceeds the profit fro tourism, which brings the national economy $2.8 billion.

The Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) maintains strict secrecy about the causes that gave rise to the unexpected and simultaneous revocation of agreements with two countries that maintain excellent relations with the island.

It is worth noting that Cuba and Kenya signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 24, with the aim of encouraging the start of medical cooperation in that African nation. And on June 18, Cuban President Raul Castro received his Mozambican counterpart, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, and the official press reported that both leaders spoke in a fraternal atmosphere about the state of relations, historical ties, collaboration and international issues.

The sudden decision of both African nations not only surprised the Cuban authorities, but also the 602 doctors who were planning to travel to Kenya this October 2.

Several institutions remain associated with this Council, whose mission is to safeguard integrity, independence and technological sovereignty; as well as to strengthen the presence and impact of the Cuban system in the social networks: The Computer Network Security Office (OSRI) is directly subordinated to the Ministry of Informatics and Communications.

The Computer Network Security Office (OSRI) is directly subordinated to the Ministry of Informatics and Communications.

“I am terrified of this group because they are very well equipped and like hunting dogs they can inspect and find even what you have erased.” says the source, one of those potentially chosen to be part of the Cuban delegations that will participate in the 19th World Youth and Students Festival, in the Russian city of Sochi.

DATYS is another group of programmers that belongs to the Ministry of the Intertior (MININT), and is responsible for manufacturing and selling software. This is the group that makes biometric programs for fingerprint recognition, it was this group that implemented the identification system in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, among other countries.

SOFTEL is another small, strategic, vanguard community that offers advanced IT solutions, explains the interviewee. It has its headquarters within the University of Computer Science (UCI) and now is working on GalenLab, a software for the implementation of digital medical records.

The source referred to two systems created by SOFTEL: Galen Lab “Blood Bank,” to create blood banks and donor registries; and Galen Lab “Diagnostic Methods,” engaged with the process inside a laboratory that allows access to the exams of each patient of the Cuban medical system and of any of the medical missions of Cuba abroad.

SERTFOD is another group of young people dedicated to cybersecurity. It belongs to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and since last July was authorized to provide services outside the FAR. Now it is in charge of repairing computer media, in addition to installing alarms and surveillance cameras in several civilian companies, and even in foreign companies. This group is in charge of managing the technology and methods that operate in a condition of secrecy or compartmentalization.

“The organization exists and is up and running; the problem is that our leaders belong to an age group that refuses to be a part of the digital age and that has sidelines the more than 25,000 professional experts in this area,” adds the source.

With low wages, poor working conditions, zero professional achievement, and the inability to negotiate patents and intellectual property, it is understandable that these specialists, skilled personnel with well-kept secrets, emigrate.

Clearly, solidarity is a universal moral principle that we should all practice. But not because of a sterile lecture which — in the case of this harangue by the country’s ruler — amounts to nothing more than an attempt to play upon people’s hopes.

The youngest of the Castros — a man of hooded eyes and meager talent who is also in the line of succession to the presidency of the Council of Ministers and Council of State — expressed his sympathy for the thousands of Cubans who have lost everything. These people are no doubt unaware that on the same day, September 8, as Baracoa and the entire eastern portion of the island were experiencing the destructive effects of winds that exceeded 200 kilometers per hour and caused damage to the electrical grid, homes and agriculture, the Castro family — or at least the most high-profile members of this clan — had marked the day by celebrating together at Saint Francis of Assisi Basilica and Monastery in Old Havana.

While the residents of Gibara were experiencing the desperate anguish of terrifying floods and the frustrations of being without electricity, the Castro dynasty’s hereditary princes — Alejandro, Nilsa and Mariela Castro Espín ( Raúl’s kids); Antonio, Alexis, Alex and Angel Castro Soto del Valle as well as Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart (Fidel’s sons) — were enjoying refreshing, well-made mojitos and the enchanting delights of caviar, squid and salmon with raspberry jam on thin layers of crustless bread in a charming Baroque edifice in Old Havana. The occasion was the debut and launch of a pair of books entitled “Fidel Castro and the United States” and “Raúl Castro and Our America.”

The cousins, children of the two powerful Castros, greeted each other affectionately but sat apart, at once together but separate.

It was like a sexless marriage in which, owing to certain commitments, the parties still share a bed. They allowed themselves to celebrate their good fortune dispassionately and without resentment while, at that exact moment, the unfortunate were fleeing from Irma’s impact.

In truth, I don’t know what Raúl was thinking. I believe he was probably thinking what a blessing it was to be handed by divine fiat the mantle of Commander-in-Chief.

Dr. Eusebio Leal, Havana’s official historian, presided over the event. The man in charge of compiling the data for this masterpiece, which is already being touted as the next best seller, was the astute and temperamental Colonel Abel Enrique González Santamaría who, in addition to having a doctorate in political science, is also senior adviser to the Defense and National Security Commission. He wore a light olive guayabera to the event, a color that might be described as a dull Sierra Maestra green.*

It is only natural that we should dress in subdued tones in these difficult days when people are seeing a lifetime’s worth of work taken away in seconds by the force of a hurricane.

*Translator’s note: a reference to the color of the military fatigues worn by Castro and his revolutionaries when they were operating in the mountains.

This singular cyber-message, brief and to the point, said that the collaborators must collect their transit visas on 12 September at the Spanish consulate in Havana, and must present themselves the day before at UCCM’s headquarters, located on CUJAE Highway in the capital municipality of Marianao.

The doctors involved are Neuvis Vázquez del Llano (surgeon), Manuel Luis Rodríguez Lavernia (surgeon), Aida Silvia Fuentes Abreu (pediatrician), Pablo Raúl Rosell (surgeon) y María Elena Pérez Jiménez (anesthetist).

So far so good. UCCM is the institution in charge of ensuring Cuba’s commitments with regards to International Medical Collaboration are met, and it is normal that it should also be in charge of the visas and travel of the collaborators.

The story’s dark and irregular point comes to light when, by magic and hours apart, a second email, dated Wednesday 9 August, is sent from Roberto Morales, Cuba’s Minister of Public Health, to the Cuban embassy in Madrid, with a copy to the African state, instruction that by orders of Jesús López-Gavilán, chief of the MINIT department that deals with health, that when the collaborators’ flight date is confirmed, it is imperative that an official of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Madrid go to Barajas International Airport (the misspelled missive explains), because after an investigation and check of communications with family members abroad, it was determined that one of the five physicians, without specifying which, but repeating the names of the five mentioned above, has shown what are describes as strong indications and intentions to defect.

A brief synopsis of the video conference was later distributed by email to MINSAP directors.

This is not the first time that Cuba has offered medical aid to the United States. In August 2005 the Cuban government created the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Medical Specialists for Disasters and Epidemics to aid populations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama affected by Hurricane Katrina.

In this instance, MINSAP plans to enlist eight-hundred aid workers from different medical fields capable of responding immediately to the demands of the affected population.

MINSAP has already prepared a list of 1,000 potential team members which includes specialists from twelve provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. The provinces with the highest number of pre-selected physicians are Santiago de Cuba (230), Havana (160), Holguín (160) and Granma (110).

According to the report obtained by Martí Noticias, the professionals chosen are required to bring the following documents to the interview:

Medical diplomas as well as diplomas for specialized fields in which they hope to work.

•  Curriculum vitae in English, with an emphasis on medical skills.
•  Photocopy of national ID card.
•  Photocopy of professional card.
•  A photo in any format

“Attached is the transport plan, organized by categories and provinces. We must take all measures necessary to fulfill this task, which is of highest priority,” concludes the document, which was circulated by email and signed by Ovidio L. Alba Betancourt, head of SMC (Medical Services of Cuba), a branch of Central Unit for Medical Cooperation (UCCM).

Earlier this year, Cuban doctors travelled to Chicago to participate in an aid program in that city for at-risk communities with limited resources as part of a collaboration that will last for close to a year. Cuban doctors will focus their attention on maternal and infant care as well as the detection and prevention of cancer.

From August 14 to 17, specialists from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in collaboration with the Cuban Academy of Sciences, participated in a binational symposium in Havana to discuss approaches to vector controls for Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can transmit diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.