Haiti President Visits Cuba
HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 15 — Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly arrives in Cuba on Tuesday for an official visit. He will meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro and other top officials.
Martelly took office in May and this is his first official visit to Cuba.
Haiti receives extensive long term assistance in health care from Cuba which has maintained several hundred doctors and health technitions in the neighboring country for over a decade.
Likewise, over five hundred Haitian young doctors have graduated from Cuban medical schools and another five hundred plus are currently studying medicine in Cuba, all on scholarships provided by Havana.
Only being in Haiti, can anyone appreciate the incredible humanitarian work that Cuba is doing, which surpass the combined efforts of all other nations involvement in that country. With a medical team of approximately 500 physicians, the bulk of Haiti’s healthcare system lies in the hands of Cuba.
The Caribbean School of Medical Sciences in Santiago de Cuba, has enrolled approximately 1000 Haitian students and have graduated close to 500. Many more should graduate in the years to come. Technical and professionals in many other fields can be found in every department in Haiti.
Still, 5 years after the devastating earthquake, over 100,000 Haitian children are living on the streets of Port a Prince, notwithstanding hundreds of millions of dollars that was donated from around the world for this disaster. Only a few of ex president Bill Clinton and G. W. Bush closest aides can possibly explain its past, present and future use.
When Cuba financial resources allowed, 40,000 school children from war-torn Ethiopia, Sudan and other African countries were rescued and brought to then Isle of Pines -today, Isle of Youth- in the 70’s, where they were board, fed, provided health care, sports and educated in every possible field of human sciences. Today, they can be found everywhere, sharing their expertise with the world.
Cuba economical crisis today, preclude any such help for Haitian children, as hundreds of secondary schools capable of housing 400-500 students lay empty across the island and every professional needed to staff these schools, are readily available in Cuba.
Is anyone with leadership capabilities in the world, willing to organize and propose to the Cuban government, the possibility of providing a similar educational program for these innocent victims on the streets of Haiti, knowing, that less than $5.00 per day per student or half the cost of a cruise missile, is all that is needed, not to kill, but to save and train for the world, thousands of victims of this natural and human disasters.