Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba: Cuba demands the end to instigation of violence against Cuban health collaborators in Bolivia
In the last few hours, different acting authorities in the Plurinational State of Bolivia have put forward the idea that Cuban health collaborators are encouraging the protests that are taking place in Bolivia, joined by a similar approach on social networks, through accounts of questionable origin and false profiles that incite violence against the health personnel.
In this regard, on 13 November, four members of the Medical Brigade in El Alto were arrested by the police as they were going to their place of residence with money withdrawn from a bank to pay for basic services and the rent of the 107 members of the Medical Brigade in that region.
The arrest took place under the defamatory assumption that the money was used to financing protests. Representatives of the police and the Public Ministry visited the headquarters of the Medical Brigade in El Alto and La Paz and confirmed from documents, payrolls and bank data that the amount of money coincided with the amount regularly withdrawn every month.
The four Cuban collaborators arrested are:
- Amparo Lourdes García Buchaca, a Bachelor of Science in Electro-medicine. In Cuba, she worked at the Provincial Electro-medicine Center in the province of Cienfuegos before starting the mission in Bolivia in March of this year.
- Idalberto Delgado Baró, a Bachelor of Science in Economics, from the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality, who worked at the Municipal Electro-medicine Center of Isla de la Juventud when he joined the mission in Bolivia last March.
- Ramón Emilio Álvarez Cepero, a Specialist in Intensive Care and Endocrinology who worked in Cuba at the Gustavo Aldereguía General Hospital in the province of Cienfuegos until he began his mission in Bolivia in July 2017.
- Alexander Torres Enríquez, a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine who worked in Cuba at the Carlos Verdugo Health Center in the province of Matanzas when he began his mission on 3 February 2019.
- Permanent contact has been maintained with these Cuban collaborators, through the Cuban Embassy in La Paz and the Medical Brigade Headquarters.
The four Cuban collaborators have a recognized professional career according to their occupational profile, and like the other Cuban professionals who are working in Bolivia, they have strictly and rigorously adhered to humanitarian and cooperative work, the reason for which they traveled to that country under intergovernmental agreements.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects the false accusations that these comrades encourage or fund protests based on unfounded deliberate lies.
In these circumstances described, it has been decided that the Cuban collaborators will return immediately to their homeland.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands the immediate release of the detained collaborators, and that the Bolivian authorities ensure the personal safety of all Cuban collaborators according to the responsibilities acquired by the Bolivian State regarding the security and protection of the collaborators in accordance with the intergovernmental agreements signed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the Bolivian authorities to halt the exacerbation of irresponsible anti-Cuban expressions of hatred, defamation and instigation of violence against Cuban health collaborators, who have provided their solidarity contribution to the health care of the brotherly Bolivian people. The millions of Bolivians who have received the altruistic care of hundreds of Cuban physicians know perfectly well that lies cannot conceal the meritorious contribution and noble purpose of our health professionals.