Washington D.C., April 8th, 2020
Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post,
1301 K Street NW, Washington DC 20071
Dear Editors,
I refer to your article published in your newspaper under the headline “En Cuba la solidaridad médica se ha convertido en un gran negocio”, dated April 6.
Regrettably, the editorial section of the Washington Post confirms its traditional stance when writing about Cuban issues.
The article contains statements that neither adjust to the truth nor are they supported by known sources, but rather they are propped up by platforms financed by the United States government. The distortions therein contained cannot be verified with official or reliable data. There is no informative balance.
The focal point of this calumny that the Washington Post editorial page has lent itself to, is putting forward with no ground whatsoever, that Cuba traffics in persons or practices slavery while trying to denigrate the commendable work that is and has been voluntarily carried out all along by hundreds of thousands of Cuban health professionals and technicians in several countries, particularly in third world countries.
It is an insult against the bilateral and intergovernmental cooperation programs that have been legally established between the Cuban government and the governments of dozens of countries, that are in line with the United Nations guidelines for the South-South cooperation and have responded to the health requirements that those countries have sovereignly defined.
It was unnecessary to publish as an opinion, ideas originating from the Department of State and the USAID.
In Cuba, public health is a human, universal and free right. The Cuban School of Medicine is respected worldwide, that includes American experts. Hundreds of American students have been trained as medical doctors in Cuba and countless of patients have been saved their lives on the Island.
I thank you for your attention.
José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez
Ambassador of Cuba to the United States