free cubadoctorsCUBA STANDARD — In a move that considerably broadens Cuban health service exports and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues, the Brazilian health ministry and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) agreed Aug. 21 to contract 4,000 Cuban doctors as a backbone for a fast-expanding medical program in needy regions of Brazil.

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Opening the door for Cuba’s pharmaceutical and medical industry to a common market of 70 million people with a GDP of $636 billion, the members of the ALBA bloc officially announced the launch of ALBAmed, a multinational body that includes a regulatory institution and a central registry for pharmaceutical and medical products.

ALBAmed is expected to trigger concerted regional planning for pharmaceutical production and save participating governments — Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua — between 20 and 50 percent in medical purchases, an Ecuadorian foreign ministry official told Spanish news agency efe.

8 August Presna Latina

graduados medicina

Hundreds of new doctors graduated in Cuba will return to Bolivia starting this weekend to start offering medical attention in their country's rural areas.

Bolivian director of health services, Ruben Colque said that 780 new physicians, who graduated at the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine are returning home to first offer an initial land compulsory service in rural areas before they get to their final places of work. The preliminary stage, known as social service, will be coordinated with regional health offices in different departments, Colque said.

Juventud Rebelde

More than three million patients have recovered vision thanks to the Operation Milagro. The second phase will expand the attention to the African peoples without decreasing the number of operations on patients from Latin America and countries of ALBA

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Morales and Snowdenwww.voltairenet.org

Unprecedented in the history of international relations, the governments of four European countries - France, Spain, Italy and Portugal - have closed off their airspace this week to the Bolivian president’s airplane. Is this a case of strict compliance with international laws or further proof of the servility of European ’powers’ towards Washington? To better answer this simple question, French pundit Salim Lamrani sets out a list of 25 facts.

www.boliviarising.blogspot.co.uk

Evo Morales

Agencies in Cochabamba, July 5 Bolivia' s president, Evo Morales, has warned he might close the US embassy in his country, as South America' s leftist leaders rallied to support him over the rerouting of his presidential plane.

Morales again blamed Washington for putting pressure on European countries to refuse to allow his plane to fly through their airspace on Tuesday, forcing it to land in Vienna, in what he called a violation of international law. He had been returning from a summit in Russia during which he had suggested he would be willing to consider a request from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for asylum.

"Being united will defeat American imperialism. We met with the leaders of my party and they asked us for several measures and if necessary, we will close the embassy of the United States," Morales said. "We do not need the embassy of the United States."

www.boliviarising.blogspot.co.uk

John PilgerImagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on "suspicion&quo t; that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.

Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the "international community" , as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.

The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales' s plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to "inspect" his aircraft for the "fugitive" ; Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.

ALBA-map1www.tropiknetwork.net

In May 2013 St. Lucia joined fellow OECS member-states Antigua, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the newest member of ALBA (The Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America).

The decision was announced following the VIII Meeting of the ALBA Council of Economic Complementation in Caracas on April 23, which concluded with a seven-point resolution that announced the inclusion of St. Lucia in the regional bloc.

Embassy protest
Right-wing Capriles supporters who planned a demonstration outside the Venezuelan embassy in South Kensington, London, to oppose the democratically-elected government of Venezuela were thwarted today, Saturday 20 April, by solidarity protesters. Numerous Latin-American and socialist groups agreed the previous night to defend the embassy from reactionaries who refuse to accept the election of Nicolas Maduro as President on Sunday 14 April. Even the British government has now recognised Maduro’s victory.
 
The call for an emergency demonstration was made during a meeting called by Hands off Venezuela on Friday afternoon. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) activists were among those who responded to news of a second protest planned by the Venezuelan right-wing since the election by calling for a solidarity protest to defend the embassy. On Tuesday 16 April, around 300 supporters of the neo-liberal Capriles surrounded the Venezuelan consulate near Warren Street harassing diplomatic staff and blocking their exit. An embassy statement said: ‘The Diplomatic Police had to intervene to prevent the crowd from attacking a local employee of the Embassy, who they insulted…’ FRFI and other activists were determined to prevent a repeat of this attack on Venezuela’s sovereignty. 
 
Unfortunately the call for solidarity was not supported by various groups who were not prepared to confront the Venezuelan opposition - those who would destroy the Bolivarian Revolution and reverse the gains made by the Venezuelan working class since 1999. This reticence meant that some 80 supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution were significantly outnumbered by aggressive opposition forces which peaked at 400. However, by arriving two hours earlier, the solidarity protesters were able to claim the space in front of the embassy and protect it from the opposition. This infuriated the opposition. With banners from Cuba and other Latin American countries stuck on the wall as a backdrop, the solidarity protest exposed and opposed the right-wing reactionaries, who arrived in force at 2pm and gave up at 5pm. The walls of the embassy vibrated with our chants in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution, Chavez, Maduro and socialism. FRFI activists made a vital contribution to today’s protest and the arrival of our sound-system tipped the balance in favour of those supporting democracy and revolution in Latin America.
 
We have no illusions that the Venezuelan bourgeoisie will stop their machinations to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution. When they return to the streets of London, however, we will be ready to defend the struggle for socialism in Venezuela and throughout the world.