20890: Blanchet: Fw: Cuban efforts in Haiti ignored (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: <Tttnhm@aol.com>

23/03/2004 -
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2004/CanadaPressCfc.doc.htm

Extract from: PRESS CONFERENCE ON HAITI HUMANITARIAN AID

At a press conference at the United Nations in New York on 23 March 2004,
convened by organisations supporting the provision of humanitarian aid to
Haiti,
Orlando Requeijo Gual, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United
Nations said his delegation was joining the initiative because of the real
need of
the Haitian people for help.

In the past five years, Cuba had devised a comprehensive plan of
humanitarian
aid for the Haitian people.  Information about it had not been included in
the recent humanitarian flash appeal by the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) or in official United Nations
documents.
 Cuba had a medical brigade in Haiti composed of 525 members, of which 332
were doctors.  Scattered throughout the country, they provided health care
for
75 per cent of the 8.3 million Haitians.  There were fewer than 2,000
physicians overall in the country, concentrated mainly in the capital, at
the expense
of the rest of the country.

In the last five years, he said, Cuban doctors had treated nearly 5 million
Haitians, and infant and maternal mortality rates had declined.  Indeed,
nearly
86,000 human lives had been saved by the Cuban medical efforts in Haiti.
Through 4 March, and for five days, the Cuban medical team had set up a
canvas
hospital next to the UniversityHospital, and assisted 406 patients, 33 of
which
had firearm wounds.  On 11 February, Cuba sent a shipment of 12.2 tons of
medicines so that the Cuban medical personnel –- all the while abiding by
the
principle of not interfering in Haiti’s internal affairs -- could fulfil its
tasks.  In addition, Cuban technicians repaired more than 2,000 medical
devices.

In the educational field, 20 Cuban professors were providing advisory
services for a radio-based literacy programme designed by Cuban specialists,
he went
on.  Some 110,000 Haitians had already become literate, and the programme
was
continuing to grow.  Cuba also donated teaching materials, and some 247
Haitian youths were currently studying in the medical school founded by
Cuban
professors.  Another 372 were enrolled under medical scholarships in Cuba,
whose
universities currently accommodated more than 3,000 Caribbean youths.

He noted that Cuban technical assistance had been instrumental in the
reconstruction of the sugar mill in Darbonne, which was currently in its
fourth sugar
harvest, with the support of 30 Cuban specialists.  The sugar mill generated
employment for 2,000 people and guaranteed electricity supply during the
harvest period for a population of 5,000 families in the area.  Also, 20
Cuban
veterinarians and technicians were putting in place a sanitary control
programme
and training Haitian staff.  Another 10 technicians were helping to
consolidate
the national aquaculture programme, for which Cuba had delivered 42 million
larvae already planted in Haiti’s lakes.  Another 11 Cuban agricultural
specialists were working in Haiti as part of the Food and Agriculture
Organization
(FAO)’s Food Security Programme.  Cuba was also cooperating in other areas,
such
as road construction.

Asked to elaborate on the lack of a mention of Cuba’s help in Haiti, the
Ambassador said the paper provided by OCHA had only two lines about that in
the
English version and one and one-half lines in the French version.  Cuban
doctors
were not hiding; they were very present and working and he did not know why
OCHA was ignoring that fact.

______________________________________________


This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.

See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
____________________________________________