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Honduras: Maduro makes u-turn on Cuban doctors issue

Alarming story of the growing Cuban influence in Honduras. With the presidential elections coming up, it makes me wonder how much Cuba is mendling in Honduran politics. It will be interesting to see how much headway the socialist party has this year. Either way, the story is alarming. We know Castro lacks good will, so the question is what is he looking for in Honduras? It sounds to me like a sneaky export of communist ideology, particularly in the impoverished areas. Should the facts be actually true--doctors are treating the poor--I can't say this is a bad thing. The problem is we know Castro has promoting instability and communism as a primary item on his agenda. We'll see.
By JOHANNES KOCH

Bowing to public pressure, the Honduran government has retracted its original decision to send home Cuban doctors stationed in the country.

On Thursday, in a public statement, President Maduro yielded to pressure saying, “the Cuban doctors will stay in Honduras. The decision is mine as well as in response to the Honduran ‘pueblo’ who think that the Cuban doctors are doing a good job and are contributing to the health of Honduras.”

Last Tuesday, Cuban doctors along with workers, students, mayors and professionals marched in protest of the government’s decision to send home 175 of the 300 Cuban doctors stationed in Honduras.

Protestors said that these doctors, who work in places where Honduran doctors refuse to go, are indispensable to the functioning of Honduras’ already battered healthcare system.

This sentiment was also expressed by members of the Organization of Mayors in Honduras (AMHON) who said, “with this measure, the government will leave more than 2.5 million Hondurans without medical services and we mayors will fight for this not to happen.”

According to news sources, Cuban doctors have carried out 6.3 million free consultations to date, including 437,000 home visits, 120,000 operations and 17,000 births.

The Cuban medical mission is made up of general medical doctors and specialists, technicians and nurses. A total of 300 Cuban doctors came to Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in a bilateral agreement with Cuba that was signed by former president, Carlos Roberto Flores.
But don't just take my word for it. Here is part of an editorial from Honduras This Week; not exactly a right-wing newspaper.
The problem is complex because the Cuban doctors are not lotus flowers, gifts from God, or saints among the people.

This same association of doctors proved for decades that what was important to them was the manipulation of the government while mocking the “poor Hondurans.” They show us their teeth instead of their support.

The interest of the present government, apart from ruining the country, is to lock the country into a commitment with these potential spies who could sell information to a neighboring country client of theirs.

We have no doubt that the presence of the Cuban doctors has a double purpose and, as we declared before, these doctors are Castro’s penance for all the damage he has caused us.

It is important to remember how the Castro government attacked Hondurans: planting antipersonnel mines, advertising campaigns against our country for over 40 years, training Honduran guerrillas, arming over a quarter of a million Nicaraguans to invade our country, motivating the arms race in Central America, stimulating drug trafficking, sending money and guns to dirty businesses, and selling information to former Russian satellite countries and Communist China. These have been Castro’s best business dealings.

Fortunately, Castro’s pretended socialism did not triumph in Honduras because the people he trained and prepared had a huge problem of prepotent personality and gigantic capitalist bellies... thank God! Besides, though some Hondurans are illiterate, they are very wise and a good decision was to demand the payment for damages and perjuries provoked by Castro’s intrusion into their country.

What is strange is the silence of the US Embassy, which leads us to suspect that Castro is paying the United States for her silence.

Far worse is that these Cubans have gathered support in our country.
Read the rest of the editorial.

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