Re: Cuban doctors escaping?!

["Jose G. Perez" <jg_perez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The "discovery" of a "new" problem of (a very few) doctors (out of
something like 60,000) wanting to leave Cuba so they can make a
killing financially is hardly new, and hardly confined to doctors.

Since the beginning of the revolution, the U.S. intelligence services
have made depriving Cuba of all sorts of professionals and especially
doctors a central target of their efforts, and in the early years they
succeeded in getting half or more of the doctors to leave the country.

The Zimbabwe case and the recent case of some people who wanted to
stay in Spain shows how cynical the press's manipulation of these
cases is. The fact is that these two doctors were in Zimbabwe to do a
specific job. They abandoned their posts and thereby violated their
immigration status, landing them in jail. Same thing that happens to
"illegals" in many other countries. The immediate way in which their
"plight" was broadcast to the world, the intervention of U.N.
authorities, etc., has all the earmarks of a carefully coordinated
operation.

So the first thing people heard about the hundreds of Cuban doctors in
southern Africa is precisely when these two decide to "defect"!

Supposedly, political asylum is for people who are persecuted. These
two don't even claim to have been persecuted, they are totally out
front about wanting to come to the U.S. for economic reasons.

There was a similar case in Venezuela a few months back, which, again,
received all sorts of media attention that it did not deserve, and was
quite openly a U.S. operation, down to press conferences coordinated
by the Foundation.

As to Cuban doctors arranging to be permanently posted abroad, sounds
like one of those urban myths the CANF is constantly propagating. Just
like anyone else, Cuban doctors are welcome to walk out the door if
there's a country that's willing to take them. I suspect the
revolution would be especially eager to be rid of doctors infected
with the mercenary spirit of capitalist medicine.

José


----- Original Message -----
From: "Debordagoria" <phantasmagorias@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2000 12:34 PM
Subject: Cuban doctors escaping?!


Last night a local Miami TV news station aired a story
about the Cuban doctors who have gone from Africa to
Sweden and defected.  While the story wasn't as
unbalanced as one might have expected, there were of
course some anti-Cuban shots taken about how "The
Cuban government brags about how many doctors they
have, but there now seems to be a problem," and about
how Cuban doctors can't even provide a decent life for
their families in that twisted system.  The story
also claimed that the typical practice (rather than
defecting) for (ambitious)Cuban doctors sent abroad
was simply to make arrangements to get invited to stay
abroad permanently.  Perhaps someone (Jose?) can
elaborate on all this?

Michael Davidson

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