Fidel Castro offers free health care to 3,000 U.S. poor

[Karmadillo]

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/briefs0701.php

Fidel Castro, in yet another example showing the Cuban Revolution can "think outside the box," has pledged that the Cuban health care system will provide free medical care to up to 3,000 U.S. people who need such care and cannot obtain it inside the United States. The Cuban president was speaking on June 21 to 200,000 in Havana who were demonstrating solidarity against the threat of military intervention from U.S. imperialism.

Castro challenged U.S. President George Bush to allow the poor people needing medical care to travel to Cuba. The Bush administration had recently tightened rules against U.S. residents visiting Cuba, even those who were born in Cuba and have relatives there.

The Cuban revolutionary leader called attention to the 44 million U.S. residents who have no medical insurance and to the thousands who die each year because they are unable to afford available medical care. These, he pointed out, are many more than the 3,000 who died in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he hoped his offer would lead to saving 3,000 lives.

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[jeff30997]

1. Chimpy don't care about sick kids.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

2. Let the mass exodus begans...

Give him your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to him. He lifts his lamp beside the golden door.


Hey look at that. There's a news story on CNN ... apparently the Cuban Coast Guard has detained a group of American refugees in a small rowboat making a B-line for the Cuban shores!

[bossfish]

19. Would that be ADMIRAL RUSTY SHACKLEFORD?

Like the handle - KOH fan here.

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

20. Admiral? Who's that??

Never been mistaken for an Admiral before. But often my name is used as an alias by Dale Gribble.

[Jerseygirltoo]

3. also medical scholarships

Cuba has been giving free medical scholarships to students in many 3rd world countries for a long time now-he is also now giving medical scholarships to Americans from poor communities, so they can come back and provide medical care in the US. Cuba has sent 50,000 doctors to work for free in 93 countries.

[htuttle]

4. Free health care?

What is he, some kind of Communist?

:evilgrin:

[prolesunited]

7. LOL!

I find this story rather amusing in a twisted sort of way.

[Karmadillo]

9. Link re: 500 US doctors a year for the poor

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1469.shtml

HAVANA (FinalCall.com) - While major media reports the war of words between America and Cuba over President George Bush’s new economic sanctions, very little, if anything, is being said about President Fidel Castro’s offer of 500 yearly medical school scholarships to solve the health crisis in the Black community.

“We are prepared to grant a number of scholarships to poor youth who cannot afford to pay the $200,000 it costs to get a medical degree in the United States,” said President Castro in 2001 when he announced the offer while speaking in New York.

A major problem in the health of the Black community is the lack of Black doctors servicing poor and needy Black patients. With rising costs in medical schools and limited openings for Black students, the problem appears only to worsen.

The Latin American School of Medical Sciences (LASMS) here stands ready to educate a minimum of 500 doctors each year—for free. The only requirement is that, after they graduate, they must come back to the United States and practice medicine among the poor.

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[dumpster_baby]

5. of course, we won't hear a thing about this in the mainstream media

fucking parasitic ruling elite. They do exist. And they are parasites.

[demnan]

6. You gotta give it to Castro

He has a big mouth and balls. Would he follow through with the offer? Oh sure. And I have prime swampland in Florida to sell you.

[Vogon_Glory]

8. Fidel DOES Have Cojones

I've made no secret of the fact that I disapprove of Fidel Castro's political and economic policies, but I must say that I have to admire his latest gambit both for its shrewdness and for its gall. Whether impoverished US citizens choose to take advantage of Fidel Castro's political offer or not, Fidel Castro reaps propaganda rewards either way.

On the one hand, the spectacle of impoverished US citizens seeking free medical care in Cuba would be quite a poke in the eye for the right-wing blowhards who rag on about the g*dless Commies and the superior quality of US medical care (Which is indeed very good--if you can afford it).

On the other hand, the sight of US authorities arresting and prosecuting desperate, impoverished US citizens seeking medical care for themselves or for their families for violating the latest set of travel and trade restrictions for US citizens wishing to visit Cuba ought to be worth its weight in gold as anti-Boosh regime propaganda.

[Karmadillo]

11. Kick

n/t

[Delano]

10. HEY! Elian's family in Miami gave Elian MOUNTAINS of toys..

gold necklaces, and even more came from the right-wing Miami Cubans who wanted to keep him here.

All old Fidel gave him was a boy scout uniform (and a job for life for useful propaganda tool Daddy).

Sorry if I sound schizo. it's just that Fidel bugs me exactly as much as the rightwing Miami Cubans who live for nothing else but to complain about him...

[Jim Warren]

12. Genius

"The Cuban revolutionary leader called attention to the 44 million U.S. residents who have no medical insurance and to the thousands who die each year because they are unable to afford available medical care. These, he pointed out, are many more than the 3,000 who died in the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he hoped his offer would lead to saving 3,000 lives."

Fucking genius, straight to the cause of predatory capitalism.

Only thing wrong is the uninsured number in now about double that.

[JayS]

13. It would be fun to take him up on this. I have a feeling the tune...

...would suddenly change.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Not to worry. BushCorp is "protecting them" from evil Fidel.

We have our heroic Coast Guard to keep gullible poor people from getting to that Island full of bleeding heart Commies who threaten western civilization and all that's dear to real Americans. Why, those socialist bastards give FREE health care to their citizens! Boy, I'll bet their poor doctors would just love to get to the good 'ol US of A so they could charge $40 for an aspirin and make a little extra on the side from the drug companies.

Why, just imagine what would happen to our beloved republic if ordinary people thought that they should receive health care for FREE? Think of the ripple effect! Sales of Mercedes and BMW's would drop, the yacht business would collapse, and rich people would have to rub shoulders with poor (probably colored) people at hospitals!

And, we'd probably all have to sing "Guantanamera" and drive '53 DeSotos.

[Kimber Scott]

15. ROFLMAO! What I find most interesting about this whole story

is just how isolated I suddenly feel. I mean, I've always known we really don't know what goes on outside our borders much. Either, because the media has decided we're not interested, or they just don't want us to know. I learned this after spending a couple of years in Germany. It just hit me, though, how badly isolated we really are. And, to think... Castro wants to help our poor people while all the "Haves" and "Haves More" just keep turning into "And Getting Mores, Too."

I am not a communist, but I've always believed in a free market society with a social safety net. Nobody should ever have to go without food, or medicine.

[Deja Q]

16. Wow, a compassionate leader. This is rather shocking...

Now we need to prepare society for the next crisis that awaits it: End end of oil. From 3 to 30 years, we need to prepare.

People laughed Carter out of the office in 1980. Someday the people will stop laughing, when they realize that oil "production" is not producing a product but in fact extracting it from the earth via a process humankind is unable to replicate on a "cost-effective" level.

[JanMichael]

17. If the Cuban system can pull it off then it's pure genius

Unanswerable.

The thing is, no matter what one may think of Castro politically, he's a freakin' Einstein compared to el Busho. He'll whip his ass every time.

[Kanary]

18. This is deserving of some letters to the editor!

The US is well on it's way to becoming a third world country.

And the citizenry is too dumb to be ashamed of itself.

Kanary