400 Cuban medical scholarships for Caricom countries

The Cuban Foreign Minister has thanked CARICOM for their support against the 47-year-old American blockade which has cost his country over $86 billion in social and economic development.{{more}}

Felipe Perez Roque, speaking to journalists following the CARICOM/CUBA Foreign Ministers’ meeting in St Vincent and the Grenadines last Tuesday May 29, said that the US blockade is the main obstacle in the way of Cuba’s development.

Roque said that at his meeting with CARICOM last Tuesday, they reviewed the various bi-lateral agreements that existed as they prepared for a CARICOM/ CUBA Heads of Government Summit scheduled for December 2008.

Vowing Cuba’s continued support of CARICOM and a deepening of the relationship between the two, Roque noted that Cuba has over 1400 Cuban specialists spread throughout CARICOM’s territories. He added that over 3000 students from CARICOM countries are studying various disciplines in Cuba.

Among these Cuban specialists operating in CARICOM are close to 800 doctors and nurses.

Roque also announced plans by Cuba to offer 400 medical school scholarships to CARICOM territories starting in September. The students who benefit from this new agreement will be trained at a new medical school in Cuba.

Roque further noted Cuba’s energy saving bulb projects that is in operation in many CARICOM countries and said that by the time the programme comes to an end over 1.8 million families would have benefited from the programme.

Speaking on the issue

of rising crime rates in CARICOM territories, Roque said that only preventative social work can reduce rising levels of crime in the Caribbean.

He said that it has been the Cuban experience that educational and employment opportunities have helped to lower crime levels. (KJ)