Cuban Doctors Desert Venezuela

[Del Arroyo]

http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=48779

Colombia Studies 45 Petitions for Refuge from Cubans who Deserted from Venezuela

The Colombian government is studying 45 petitions for refuge from Cubans, the majority of whom entered from Venezuela, who had been carrying out medical and educational cooperation missions, a Chancellory source said this Monday.

"In this moment the Colombian government has 45 petitions for refuge, but not one has been resolved," said an official from the Palace of San Carlos, headquarters of the Chancellory, who also indicated that "almost all" had arrived from Venezuela.

According to the source, the most recent case involves at least 38 doctors who, according to information obtained by the local press, live in poor sectors of the Colombian capital and are hoping that the US will give them asylum.

The Cubans entered Colombian territory by land and by air, using their official passports which allow them a stay of up to 6 months in the Andean nation without a visa.

"None of them has checked in at our embassy nor do we have any knowledge of the topic," said a source from the Cuban Embassy in Bogota.

An offial in Colombia from the UN Refugee Agency said that [they had not been aware] of this group of Cuban doctors which according to the press was asking for asylum and that, in all cases, "it is not the policy of this delegation to comment on individual cases".

Venezuela has become the principal ally of Cuba through a series of cooperation agreements, of which the most important allows the daily export of 98,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil in exchange for the services of some 20,000 Cuban doctors, paramedics, and dentists.

[BDC]

So medics want to move from a country where they get paid poorly and live badly, to one where they get paid well and live in luxury?

[Crazed Rabbit]

/\ What he said. Though I wouldn't be surprised if a desire not to have Fidel and Chavez watching over you played a part. I say we let them in, they are skilled after all.

CR

[Del Arroyo]

So medics want to move from a country where they get paid poorly and live badly, to one where they get paid well and live in luxury?

Heresy! How could they ever abandon the beloved revolution, with all of its intangible benefits??

[Tribesman]

Wow 45 out of 20,000 , thats a real rush for the border isn't it .
Whats up with Globovision today ? are they too busy trying to plan another coup to manage to churn out any decent 24 hour propoganda .:dizzy2:

[Watchman]

For some reason I cannot but wonder if this didn't have something to do with the presumably inevitable Cuban rumblings if and when old Fidel kicks the bucket. I've no doubt there's already a lot of jockeying going on in various organisations there in preparation to the event.

Get the Hell out of Dodge before the turd hits the fan, you know ?

[Redleg]

For some reason I cannot but wonder if this didn't have something to do with the presumably inevitable Cuban rumblings if and when old Fidel kicks the bucket. I've no doubt there's already a lot of jockeying going on in various organisations there in preparation to the event.

Get the Hell out of Dodge before the turd hits the fan, you know ?

That actually makes a lot of sense. Trained doctors are in short supply in a lot of areas in South and Central America.

[Watchman]

I was really thinking more along the lines of bugging out before some of their personal enemies (everyone has those, no ?) end up high in the pecking order following the change of the guard, but there's that too.

[Mooks]

Fidel is a strong hard-willed guy. Anyone think hes going to reach 100?

[Vladimir]

Interesting. I thought the ol' dictator was recovering. :juggle2:

[Adrian II]

So medics want to move from a country where they get paid poorly and live badly, to one where they get paid well and live in luxury?Lack of luxury is not the issue I think. Sounds more as if lack of freedom motivates them. According to AP two of these doctors, Jorge Toledo and Leticia Viamonte, were


'.. assigned to Venezuela in mid-2003 as part of the Miracle Mission in which Cuba and Venezuela have provided free eye surgery to more than 375,000 poor Latin Americans. The couple said they were forced to work seven days a week for little pay in the countryside near Caracas, and their relations with Venezuelans were tightly controlled. "We couldn't call our families or go out after 5 p.m. The Venezuelan national guard and Cuban authorities watched our every move," Viamonte said. "We never planned on abandoning our duty, but we got tired of being treated like slaves."Some may see poetic justice in the fact that intellectuals are just as much oppressed as ordinary workers, but in the end this is no way to run a railroad, so to speak. Castro has always needed a Havana Wall, similar to the Berlin one, to keep 'his' people in. The water serves as such. But Cubans vote with their feet whenever they can.