Cuba and Brazil Join Efforts to Help Haiti CUBA, March 29, 2010. - “We welcome the presence of Brazil beside Cuba in these health cooperation efforts with Haiti,” said on Saturday Haitian president Rene Preval during the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Cuba and Brazil in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. Preval, Cuban Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer Cabrera and his Brazilian counterpart Jose Gomez Temporao, who arrived in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, as well as Alex Larsen, on the Haitian side, were the signatories of the document. The Haitian leader referred to Cuba’s assistance to his nation in the health sector since 1998, a period in which Cuban specialists have worked even in the most remote areas of Haiti. “First is God and then, the Cuban doctors,” Preval quoted a compatriot as saying as an expression of how much the services provided by the island’s experts are appreciated in Haiti. “Cuba, a country that has suffered a blockade for over 50 years, will now count on the resources and experience of Brazil to continue this work.” “As a result of this cooperation, there are 556 Haitian doctors who graduated in Cuba and many of them are here making their contribution after the earthquake,” he said. “Brazil has volunteered to train doctors, create institutions and improve our health infrastructure here,” he added. The three health ministers met on Sunday morning with the members of Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade for emergency situations at the Croix des Bouquets campaign hospital where certificates in recognition of their work were handed to some 70 Cuban health specialists. Meanwhile, Prensa Latina news agency reports that Balaguer passed on greetings from Fidel and Raul Castro to Preval and told him that they both are closely and permanently following the work of the island’s health experts in Haiti. (Cubaminrex - acn)
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