Vol. 79/No. 32 September 14, 2015
WASHINGTON — The White House has snubbed an offer by the Cuban government to send 1,586 doctors along with 36 tons of supplies to help provide badly need medical treatment in the Gulf region of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The U.S. government has not responded to an aid offer from the Venezuelan government. … White House spokesman Scott McClellan responded to the [Cuban] offer at a September 8 press briefing. He stated, “When it comes to Cuba, we have one message for Fidel Castro: He needs to offer the people of Cuba their freedom.”…
“We are anxiously waiting, every moment, for a positive response,” Dr. Jesus Satorre, a 33-year-old cardiologist, told the Associated Press. Satorre is part of the team of Cuban doctors waiting in Havana to aid the hurricane victims. “It would be marvelous to be elbow-to-elbow with the American doctors, helping these people, saving lives for the love of humanity,” he said. This would not be Satorre’s first international mission. He helped an international team of doctors tackle a major cholera crisis in Guinea-Bissau in 2002. |
—SAM MANUEL |