What Notimex did not say (Taken from CubaDebate)

EARLY on Tuesday, March 31, I read a Notimex dispatch datelined March 30, which stated textually:

"The president of Peru, Alan García, described today as ‘prudent’ the withdrawal from the country of the humanitarian Mission Miracle project sponsored by the governments of Venezuela and Cuba for medical attention to ophthalmological patients.

"Highlighting the functional efficiency of the state Essalud in cataract surgery, the Peruvian leader told journalists that ‘there was no longer any reason for the functioning of the Mission,’ made up of foreign doctors.

"The head of state noted that 1,500 people received operations via Mission Miracle in two years, while Essalud attended to 25,000 patients in one year in Peru.

The dispatch goes on to put other similar arguments into García’s mouth.

In the first place, I don’t know why Notimex involved Venezuela in that Mission, which Cuba initiated in July 2004 in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that decimated the Pisco region in Peru. Venezuela is a proven friend of Cuba and has demonstrated great solidarity toward our people, but is not in any way related to the actions of our country in Peru, which follow a tradition of solidarity in the field of health services initiated in Algeria in 1960, when its people were fighting for their independence against French colonialism. Chávez was born on July 29, 1954, he was not yet six years old. A similar action in solidarity with Peru was fulfilled in 1970, when another earthquake cost the lives of 70,000 Peruvians and the two countries did not even have diplomatic relations. Our noble people supplied 100,000 blood donations on that occasion.

Accustomed to false information about Cuba and surprised at this strange dispatch I asked for information from the Cuban ambassador in Lima in relation to the situation of our doctors:

"Since 2006, Operation Milagro has restored the sight or improved the vision of 19,496 Peruvians, 16,907 in the Cuban Ophthalmological Center in Bolivia, and 2,589 in the Cuban Ophthalmological Center in Cuzco, which began its labors on December 15, 2008.
"Neither in this nor in other statements did the head of state mention Cuba or our Operation Miracle Clinic in Cuzco.

"In parallel with this statement, Yehude Simón, president of the Council of Ministers, addressing South American health ministers meeting in Lima, had words of praise concerning Cuban cooperation with Peru in the health sector. Simón expressed the gratitude of his government and the Peruvian people and his hopes for an extension of those ties between our countries.

"We also have direct information that García himself has made recent public and private statements demonstrating respect for Cuba and gratitude for the decisive support of our medical personnel in Peru."

I shall not charge a single cent for complementing the dispatch with what Notimex failed to say. The mainstream press in Lima and other public media echoed those affirmations.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 1, 2009
7:23 p.m.