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   Vol.65/No.16            April 23, 2001 
 
 
U.S. students attend Cuban medical school
 
BY HILDA CUZCO
The first group of eight U.S. citizens arrived in Havana April 3 to begin studies at the Latin American Medical School. The school was opened two years ago by the Cuban government to train, free of charge, youth from low-income families across Latin America as doctors and other medical personnel.

The new students, the first of 500 expected from the United States to attend the six-year program, are from California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Texas.

The program is an initiative by Cuban president Fidel Castro who offered to extend free medical training to U.S. youth during a meeting last May with a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus. "It would be hard for your government to oppose such a program," said Castro at the time. "It would be a trial for them. Morally, how could they refuse?"

"This is an opportunity for me to study medicine and become a great doctor while learning about the Cuban medical system," said Karima Mosi, 22, of San Diego during a warm welcoming ceremony. Mosi is one of the six women and two men in the first group to attend the medical school and will join more than 4,000 other students from 24 countries in the Americas and Africa.

José Manuel Cochoy, a Guatemalan student from the Student Leadership Board, pointed out that the students from the United States will also appreciate the international friendship and fraternity at the school.

Nadege Louiseau, from Florida, thanked the audience for the warm welcome and the opportunity to study medicine under the program in Cuba.

The students, who are not fluent in Spanish, will study that language before starting their medical training.

U.S. State Department officials said they have no objections to the program, but left unclear whether the students will need to revalidate their studies in order to become licensed upon their return to the United States. The State Department, however, rejected Cuba's proposal to send its own doctors to working-class communities in the United States as part of the program.  
 
 
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