Cordoba, July 22, 2006. (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro briefed the leaders of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) nations on Cuba's positive experiences in the areas of education, public health and in energy savings. The Cuban president spoke as a special guest at the 30th Mercosur Summit that took place in Cordoba, Argentina. Fidel Castro explained that Cuba's experiences can be implemented with few resources and also made reference to the good results obtained with the implementation of the Cuban literacy program "Yo sí Puedo" (Yes, I can) in Venezuela, where 1.5 million people were taught how to read and write. This teaching method, he noted, is being used with promising results in Bolivia, with the support of Cuban and Venezuelan education specialists. The leader of the Cuban Revolution highlighted the excellent results of Operation Miracle - a program offering free eye-surgery and treatment, carried out by Havana and Caracas. He noted that thanks to this initiative, hundreds of thousands of people from Latin America and the Caribbean have recovered their vision. The Cuban leader reiterated Cuba's determination to cooperate with other peoples and cited as an example Bolivia, which already has the capacity to offer eye-surgery to 100,000 patients every year, thanks to the provision of specialists and equipment. Fidel Castro added that the ophthalmology centers set up in Bolivia can also assist Argentinean and Brazilian citizens who need the treatment and that the Andean nation will soon increase its capacity to operate on 300,000 eye patients per year. The Cuban leader also told his Mercosur counterparts that the island currently maintains nearly 30,000 doctors offering their services abroad, while thousands of young people from different nations are studying medicine in Cuba to contribute to public health in the region. He went on to suggest that further efforts can be made to lower the infant mortality rate in Latin America and he pointed out how that important public health indicator has dropped to 5.6 deaths per every 1,000 live births in Cuba, even lower than in the United States. Fidel Castro stressed the huge advantages of integration for Latin American and Caribbean countries, noting that many have the same language and share traditions, while all have faced the same century-old enemies who have tried to prevent such a unity. He noted that the foes of integration are distressed when they hear news about this meeting of Mercosur, which they said was facing deep crisis but in reality is being strengthened. He added that this was one of the reasons that made him decide to attend the summit of Mercosur, whose market is now stronger than ever despite the media campaign of the U.S. and its allies. Fidel Castro also addressed the complex global economic situation with soaring fuel prices, which suggest the need for energy-saving policies. He recalled the words of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez who said his country possesses oil reserves to meet hemispheric demands during the next 100 years. The leader of the Cuban Revolution noted that the figure could double with the application of energy-saving initiatives. |