Havana.– Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief handouts, but is asking for trade restrictions to be lifted so it can buy American materials to assist in its recovery from Hurricane Ike, officials said Thursday.
"Cuba hasn't asked the United States government to give it anything," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma. "Simply that it lets us buy."
The Foreign Ministry said it has for the second time turned down a U.S. government offer to send a disaster assessment team to the island, insisting that Cuban experts are capable of assessing damage wrought by Ike when it ravaged the island this week.
Cuba says it wants some U.S. trade restrictions lifted instead, so it can buy American roofing and other construction materials to repair homes and the island's damaged electrical grid. It also wants the U.S. to allow lenders to give credits to help Cuba buy U.S. foods, which law already permits Americans to sell to the island.
Ike damaged 200,000 homes before it left Cuba on Tuesday, and more than 100,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Gustav earlier this month, Cuban civil defense officials said.
Possible U.S. aid to Cuba has been complicated by a half-century standoff between the two countries, which includes a broad U.S. trade embargo.
Written by: Belial, 11 Sep 2008 3:52 PM
From: United States, Texas
p. 1 or 2
Gushing US hypocrites say "The US imperialists can't allow the Cuban workers to BUY the food and construction materials they need to recover from the hurricanes. The US imperialists must force the Cuban workers to take whatever handouts the US imperialists deign to GIVE the Cubans. "
Plus, the gushing US hypocrites say, "How can the Cubana even know how much damage has taken place, if they refuse to let in the 'US damage assessment team' to take a look around and tell the Cubans what the team sees?"
The US imperialists will only sell food to the Cubans at discriminatory prices and on discriminatory trade conditions, gouging the Cuban workers when they are down as a result of three consecutive powerful hurricanes.
Both the US imperialists and US reactionaries, gushing with self-righteousness, refuse to sell the Cubans construction materials at any price and on any trade conditions although a million of home were destroyed or damaged by the hurricanes.
Written by: Belial, 11 Sep 2008 3:53 PM
From: United States, Texas
p. 2 or 2
Then this filthy imperial slime says "We, the US imperialists, are good people."
Written by: arkatype, 11 Sep 2008 5:41 PM
From: Dominican Republic
What money Cuba has LOL!!!!! they have no money.
Written by: santanar, 11 Sep 2008 5:42 PM
From: United States
Why buy US when you can buy from Canada, Mexico, Europe and almost the rest of the world, what is the agenda here Fidel.
From: Spain, Sanlucar de Barrameda..Coto Doñana
yeah Fidel quit sucking up to the Americans ,,,Belial your lap dog does not like it,,,,maybe he is afraid things are beginning to unravel
From: United States, Houston
Funny,
People (like Belail) always overlook the first line of the story-"Havana.– Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief handouts" You know simple things like tents, FOOD, blankets, cots, medicine, toilet paper you know you everyday necessities
From: United States
Mean while the US sucks up to China because it has HUGE capital investments. But it won't let a little ass country like Cuba BUY needed aid relief. That's real American. No doubt the Cuban Miami contingency has alot to do with this.
Cuba is not EVEN asking anything for FREE. It want to BUY it's own needs. This is the Presidents sucking us to the Cuban Miami Community.
From: Malta, Malta Goya, La marca del momento esta pa ti
Written by: richardalberto, 11 Sep 2008 8:36 PM
From: United States
Mean while the US sucks up to China because it has HUGE capital investments. But it won't let a little ass country like Cuba BUY needed aid relief. That's real American. No doubt the Cuban Miami contingency has alot to do with this.
Cuba is not EVEN asking anything for FREE. It want to BUY it's own needs. This is the Presidents sucking us to the Cuban Miami Community.
sounds like the truth to me ........... American products are cheaper then ones from Europe, and things like Backhoe loaders are made in the U.S. and not in Cuba ... you might be able to get one from Germany .. But it would cost a lot more and take longer to arrive.
Written by: Belial, 11 Sep 2008 11:34 PM
From: United States, Texas
"What money Cuba has LOL!!!!! they have no money," people who grovel before the US imperialists ask and declare.
oooo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List....ries_by_foreign_exchange_reservesForeign exchange reserves in millions of US dollars arranged according LA/C rank
1 Brazil $ 206,510 Sep 2008
2 Mexico $ 91,837 April 2008
3 United States $ 75,850 March 2008
4 Canada $ 43,057 March 2008
5 Venezuela $ 37,723 August 2008
6 Peru $ 35,518 July 2008
7 Colombia $ 21,850 February 2008
8 Chile $ 16,910 January 2008
9 Trinidad and Tobago $ 6,761 2007 est.
10 Bolivia $ 4,917 2007 est
11 Cuba $ 4,247 2007 est.
Some of the 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries ahead of Cuba are ahead because of "virtual" reserves in the forms of special drawing rights and IMF positions ... which are not really currency reserves, but forms of debt available to the country.
Written by: Belial, 11 Sep 2008 11:38 PM
From: United States, Texas
lol!!!!!
Written by: Belial, 11 Sep 2008 11:44 PM
From: United States, Texas
Dominican Republic ... $ 2,525 ... 2007 est.
From: United States
NO BELIAL, Cuba STILL has no money. Cuba doesn't use its reserves (Fidel's money) to buy things with it...LOL. The reserves of foreign currency simply allow Cuba to manipulate its exchange rate and stabilize its currency. So Cuba has no purchasing power whatsoever, and Cubans in the island still live in misery.
Written by: Belial, 12 Sep 2008 12:40 AM
From: United States, Texas
"You know simple things like tents, FOOD, blankets, cots, medicine, toilet paper you know you everyday necessities," Tex guesses.
oooo
I know the US regime offered the "handout" ... that's too generous a term ... of a "US damage assessment team" which will visit Cuba, look around, and the tell the Cubans what the team saw.
Cuba, I know, said "No thank you."
As for as the "tents, FOOD, blankets, cots, medicine, toilet paper, " the US regime not only refuses to GIVE, but also it refuses to SELL these things, except for "FOOD" [ and some medicines].
For the "FOOD," the US imperialists demand gouging prices and trade conditions above what it charges 170 other countries which buy US agricultural exports.
The idea the US imperialists follow is - since the Cubans are desperate in this hurricane calamity, now is the time to gouge and cheat them on prices and terms, while bragging about "GIVING" the very things the imperialists demand gouging prices.
Written by: Belial, 12 Sep 2008 12:51 AM
From: United States, Texas
"NO BELIAL, Cuba STILL has no money. Cuba doesn't use its reserves (Fidel's money) to buy things with it...LOL. The reserves of foreign currency simply allow Cuba to manipulate its exchange rate and stabilize its currency. So Cuba has no purchasing power whatsoever, and Cubans in the island still live in misery."
oooo
Out of 170 markets for US agricultural exports, Cuba ... before the hurricanes... rank 25th in the world, rising from last in 2000, due to the embargo, to 25th by 2004.
[n 2000, the US imperialists under Bill Clinton exempted food sales from the blockade.]
And Cuba was the only importer of US agricultural commodities which paid cash up front and in total.
Most of the US agricultural trading partners are deeply in debt to the cheating US imperialists.
If these other trading partners had to pay cash up front and in toto, their purchases of US food exports would plunge by 95%.
Written by: Belial, 12 Sep 2008 1:16 AM
From: United States, Texas
"The reserves of foreign currency simply allow Cuba to manipulate its exchange rate and stabilize its currency," saturnc objects with spirit to Belial's point.
oooo
The pesos in Cuba are not convertible to hard currencies; so, how can the pesos be manipulated or stabilized, since manipulation and stabilization are currency relationships against other currencies.
Cuba has two "currencies" - the peso and "convertible" peso.
Perhaps, you mean the manipulation and stabilization of the peso against the "convertibe" peso and vice versa.
Well, if such a manipulation and stabilization are ever necessary, it doesn't take $4 BILLION of currency reserves to do.
About $10,000 will do the job.
Internally, the "convertible peso" can be exchanged for hard currency ... usually the US dollar at 25:1 ... and vice versa, but not externally.
Therefore, the "convertible peso" is not convertible internationally, and has no need of manipulation and stabilization, as you suggest.
From: Spain, Sanlucar de Barrameda..Coto Doñana
belial I wish the best to the Cuban people....but this could be the beginning of the end for the Castro brothers....the people had nothing but shacks and old cars to begin with now they have nothing....they may soon get angry and it will not be at W and the USA,,,,,try to imagine the scene in movie Frankenstien with peasants marching on the castle......soon the secret police will be shooting ALLEDGED looters
Written by: anthonyC, 12 Sep 2008 9:07 AM
From: United States
Lets See.
Hurricane devestates Cuba.
U.S. offers free aid no strings attached.
Cuban Goverment attaches strings before they consider accepting it.
Come to your own conclusions.
From: Dominican Republic
Funny how soon we forget that Cuba offered the US assistance during the Katrina debocle...
Bush Administration Refuses Cuban Offer of Medical Assistance Following Katrina
Stephen Zunes | October 19, 2005
Editor: John Gershman, IRC
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
One of the most tragically irresponsible decisions of the Bush administration in the critical hours following Hurricane Katrina was its refusal to accept offers by the government of Cuba to immediately dispatch more than 1500 medical doctors with 37 tons of medical supplies to the devastated areas along the Gulf coast.
The Cuban government made its formal offer on September 2, as desperately overworked health-care providers in New Orleans were unable to meet the needs of thousands of survivors due to the lack of medicines, equipment, and personnel. continued...
From: Dominican Republic
At that time, Senate majority leader and physician Bill Frist, who was visiting that flooded city, stated, “The distribution of medical assistance continues to be a serious problem.” He confirmed reports from Louisiana's Health Department that scores of people were dying as a result.
The following day, the Washington Post reported that southern Mississippi's most essential need, in addition to fuel, was medical assistance. In the evacuation center in Houston's Astrodome, where infectious diseases were spreading, only a small portion of those seeking medical assistance were receiving care due to a shortage of medical personnel and supplies.
To both demonstrate the seriousness of his government's offer and as a shrewd propaganda ploy, Cuban president Fidel Castro assembled 1586 doctors with backpacks filled with medical equipment at the Havana Convention Center on September 4, announcing their readiness to leave at a moment's notice. Gulfstream Airways, a regional carrier based
From: Dominican Republic
Despite Cuba's many problems, the Communist country has established one of the finest public health care systems in the developing world, exporting thousands of doctors to poor parts of the Caribbean, Latin American, Africa, and Asia. The island nation is frequently hit by hurricanes and—despite its lack of resources—has demonstrated a far greater ability to handle these storms' extreme winds and flooding with minimal loss of life than the far wealthier United States. Similarly, its doctors are well-trained to deal with such natural disasters.
From: Dominican Republic
a regional carrier based in Florida , offered to fly them into the affected region free of charge. There was no response from Washington .
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus tried to pressure the administration to accept the Cuban aid, with even the staunchly anti-Castro Cuban-American Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida stating, “If we need doctors, and Cuba offers them, and they provide good service, of course we should accept them.” News reports indicate that Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who had visited Cuba earlier this year, would have welcomed the assistance.
A full week after President Castro's initial offer, the State Department finally did respond, officially rejecting the offer on the grounds that the United States did not have full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Notably, the Bush administration did accept aid from the government of Taiwan , with which the United States does not have full diplomatic relations either.
Written by: anthonyC, 12 Sep 2008 3:00 PM
From: United States
Punta Cana Mike
Do you believe every press release Fidel and Raul put out?
From: Spain, Sanlucar de Barrameda..Coto Doñana
mike the US government put 4 times the Cuban GDP into Katrina relief ...what is your point....a bunch of part time taxi drivers would have made a difference ?....I doubt it
From: Dominican Republic
Jeez...I wonder why I even try here..... those who see things one way...will never look the other. those who have nothing more than media to go by, judge everything by that and thus form hardcore opinions...never to be swayed.
I kind of feel like the next level of evolution, wandering around through the dinosaurs.
Just have to watch where I step.
From: Dominican Republic
Anthony...and you...you believe all that the good ol' boys in Washington put out????
Smoking Gun....we found Bin Ladin.....Mission Accomplished.....blah blah blah..........
Written by: anthonyC, 12 Sep 2008 8:55 PM
From: United States
Lets see.....
Cuba: Run by a Murderous Dictator and his Brother.
No free press.
No free elections.
No Freedom of Speech.
No open access to the internet.
Explain to me again why anyone should believe anything the Cuban Government says?
From: Dominican Republic
Anthony...are you a Brontasaurus or a T-rex????
Written by: yumnuk3, 13 Sep 2008 11:22 AM
From: United States, New York City
possibly 8 years of Bush got to us; or perhaps some of us may have grown up around conservative people and now how they operate, but were lucky enough to break free from the conservative mentality and make up our own minds.
Written by: anthonyC, 13 Sep 2008 2:14 PM
From: United States
To think that their are people who actually admire Castro and what he has done is really beyond belief.
Written by: yumnuk3, 13 Sep 2008 6:15 PM
From: United States, New York City
Conservative and Liberal and there is barely any difference either. They all play musical chairs but serve the same masters, not us, but we all get shafted. Is that any difference to a dictatorship?
Written by: yumnuk3, 13 Sep 2008 6:48 PM
From: United States, New York City
Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains. - Winston Churchill
Written by: anthonyC, 13 Sep 2008 8:35 PM
From: United States
"Written by: yumnuk3, 13 Sep 2008 6:15 PM
From: United States
Conservative and Liberal and there is barely any difference either. They all play musical chairs but serve the same masters, not us, but we all get shafted. Is that any difference to a dictatorship? "
If that is what you believe then you have already lost.
Written by: yumnuk3, 13 Sep 2008 9:24 PM
From: United States, New York City
When debating conservatives remember that numerous studies over the last 50 years have conclusively proven that conservative brains simply don't function. Their CRT scans show minimal activity in brain areas that deal (or are supposed to deal) with conflicting information. It's a fact. Google "conservative brains" and see for yourself. And they have numerous deep seated personality defects. Extreme levels of fear for one. Google "republican child molestors". The list goes on for a city block.
Written by: anthonyC, 13 Sep 2008 10:46 PM
From: United States
Written by: Jander, 13 Sep 2008 11:52 PM
From: Dominican Republic
I thought there was a Home Depot in Havana , you know for all those do it yourselfers.
Probably ran out of plywood with all those people building those Cuban Mini Yachts .
You know the one's they sail to the Key's on for the weekend.
I still think the US could make an exception , but only after we fix our own cities.
Written by: Jander, 14 Sep 2008 12:04 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Hundreds of Cuban medical workers defecting to U.S. while overseas
http://www.coha.org/2007/10/hundr....s-defecting-to-us-while-overseas/Hundreds of Cuban medical workers defecting to U.S. while overseas
The Castro regime has used these medical professionals as a vehicle for its international propaganda,” Carbonell said.
Carbonell said 1,000 Cuban medical personnel have entered the United States under the new policy. But there are glitches. A group of Cuban doctors in Colombia was stranded there for months after applying.
Written by: yumnuk3, 14 Sep 2008 12:31 AM
From: United States, New York City
anthonyC, funny stuff nice to know you have a sense of humour.
From: Spain, Sanlucar de Barrameda..Coto Doñana
"During the natural disasters occcuring since 1959, all aid sent to the Cuban people has been intercepted by the Communist tyranny, placed in control of the those who exploit the country, directed to supply the requirements of the tourist industry, or sold at high prices at the so-called 'diplotiendas' [luxury stores in Cuba that use US dollars], which the Cuban worker has no access to.
Written by: Trujillo, 21 Sep 2008 7:44 PM
From: Dominican Republic
"Buy", but isn't communism supposed to be against capitalism and consumerism? Now they want to "buy" from the "evil empire". Cuba is also drilling for oil, again, why all the hypocrisy? They keep blaming the US embargo for Cuba's poverty, but no-one is stopping Cuba from trading with other countries, plus Cuba and the RD are talking about a free trade treaty. China is another big hypocrite, it calls itself a "communist" state, yet, they are one of the most capitalist countries in the world. Even their own government says that being rich is glorious. I suggest Cuba to stop the whinning and join the world, they can stay a "communist" country just like China, but be smart and start earning money.
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Gushing US hypocrites say "The US imperialists can't allow the Cuban workers to BUY the food and construction materials they need to recover from the hurricanes. The US imperialists must force the Cuban workers to take whatever handouts the US imperialists deign to GIVE the Cubans. "
Plus, the gushing US hypocrites say, "How can the Cubana even know how much damage has taken place, if they refuse to let in the 'US damage assessment team' to take a look around and tell the Cubans what the team sees?"
The US imperialists will only sell food to the Cubans at discriminatory prices and on discriminatory trade conditions, gouging the Cuban workers when they are down as a result of three consecutive powerful hurricanes.
Both the US imperialists and US reactionaries, gushing with self-righteousness, refuse to sell the Cubans construction materials at any price and on any trade conditions although a million of home were destroyed or damaged by the hurricanes.
Then this filthy imperial slime says "We, the US imperialists, are good people."
People (like Belail) always overlook the first line of the story-"Havana.– Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief handouts" You know simple things like tents, FOOD, blankets, cots, medicine, toilet paper you know you everyday necessities
Cuba is not EVEN asking anything for FREE. It want to BUY it's own needs. This is the Presidents sucking us to the Cuban Miami Community.
From: United States
Mean while the US sucks up to China because it has HUGE capital investments. But it won't let a little ass country like Cuba BUY needed aid relief. That's real American. No doubt the Cuban Miami contingency has alot to do with this.
Cuba is not EVEN asking anything for FREE. It want to BUY it's own needs. This is the Presidents sucking us to the Cuban Miami Community.
sounds like the truth to me ........... American products are cheaper then ones from Europe, and things like Backhoe loaders are made in the U.S. and not in Cuba ... you might be able to get one from Germany .. But it would cost a lot more and take longer to arrive.
oooo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List....ries_by_foreign_exchange_reserves
Foreign exchange reserves in millions of US dollars arranged according LA/C rank
1 Brazil $ 206,510 Sep 2008
2 Mexico $ 91,837 April 2008
3 United States $ 75,850 March 2008
4 Canada $ 43,057 March 2008
5 Venezuela $ 37,723 August 2008
6 Peru $ 35,518 July 2008
7 Colombia $ 21,850 February 2008
8 Chile $ 16,910 January 2008
9 Trinidad and Tobago $ 6,761 2007 est.
10 Bolivia $ 4,917 2007 est
11 Cuba $ 4,247 2007 est.
Some of the 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries ahead of Cuba are ahead because of "virtual" reserves in the forms of special drawing rights and IMF positions ... which are not really currency reserves, but forms of debt available to the country.
oooo
I know the US regime offered the "handout" ... that's too generous a term ... of a "US damage assessment team" which will visit Cuba, look around, and the tell the Cubans what the team saw.
Cuba, I know, said "No thank you."
As for as the "tents, FOOD, blankets, cots, medicine, toilet paper, " the US regime not only refuses to GIVE, but also it refuses to SELL these things, except for "FOOD" [ and some medicines].
For the "FOOD," the US imperialists demand gouging prices and trade conditions above what it charges 170 other countries which buy US agricultural exports.
The idea the US imperialists follow is - since the Cubans are desperate in this hurricane calamity, now is the time to gouge and cheat them on prices and terms, while bragging about "GIVING" the very things the imperialists demand gouging prices.
oooo
Out of 170 markets for US agricultural exports, Cuba ... before the hurricanes... rank 25th in the world, rising from last in 2000, due to the embargo, to 25th by 2004.
[n 2000, the US imperialists under Bill Clinton exempted food sales from the blockade.]
And Cuba was the only importer of US agricultural commodities which paid cash up front and in total.
Most of the US agricultural trading partners are deeply in debt to the cheating US imperialists.
If these other trading partners had to pay cash up front and in toto, their purchases of US food exports would plunge by 95%.
oooo
The pesos in Cuba are not convertible to hard currencies; so, how can the pesos be manipulated or stabilized, since manipulation and stabilization are currency relationships against other currencies.
Cuba has two "currencies" - the peso and "convertible" peso.
Perhaps, you mean the manipulation and stabilization of the peso against the "convertibe" peso and vice versa.
Well, if such a manipulation and stabilization are ever necessary, it doesn't take $4 BILLION of currency reserves to do.
About $10,000 will do the job.
Internally, the "convertible peso" can be exchanged for hard currency ... usually the US dollar at 25:1 ... and vice versa, but not externally.
Therefore, the "convertible peso" is not convertible internationally, and has no need of manipulation and stabilization, as you suggest.
Hurricane devestates Cuba.
U.S. offers free aid no strings attached.
Cuban Goverment attaches strings before they consider accepting it.
Come to your own conclusions.
Bush Administration Refuses Cuban Offer of Medical Assistance Following Katrina
Stephen Zunes | October 19, 2005
Editor: John Gershman, IRC
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
One of the most tragically irresponsible decisions of the Bush administration in the critical hours following Hurricane Katrina was its refusal to accept offers by the government of Cuba to immediately dispatch more than 1500 medical doctors with 37 tons of medical supplies to the devastated areas along the Gulf coast.
The Cuban government made its formal offer on September 2, as desperately overworked health-care providers in New Orleans were unable to meet the needs of thousands of survivors due to the lack of medicines, equipment, and personnel. continued...
The following day, the Washington Post reported that southern Mississippi's most essential need, in addition to fuel, was medical assistance. In the evacuation center in Houston's Astrodome, where infectious diseases were spreading, only a small portion of those seeking medical assistance were receiving care due to a shortage of medical personnel and supplies.
To both demonstrate the seriousness of his government's offer and as a shrewd propaganda ploy, Cuban president Fidel Castro assembled 1586 doctors with backpacks filled with medical equipment at the Havana Convention Center on September 4, announcing their readiness to leave at a moment's notice. Gulfstream Airways, a regional carrier based
Despite Cuba's many problems, the Communist country has established one of the finest public health care systems in the developing world, exporting thousands of doctors to poor parts of the Caribbean, Latin American, Africa, and Asia. The island nation is frequently hit by hurricanes and—despite its lack of resources—has demonstrated a far greater ability to handle these storms' extreme winds and flooding with minimal loss of life than the far wealthier United States. Similarly, its doctors are well-trained to deal with such natural disasters.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus tried to pressure the administration to accept the Cuban aid, with even the staunchly anti-Castro Cuban-American Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida stating, “If we need doctors, and Cuba offers them, and they provide good service, of course we should accept them.” News reports indicate that Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who had visited Cuba earlier this year, would have welcomed the assistance.
A full week after President Castro's initial offer, the State Department finally did respond, officially rejecting the offer on the grounds that the United States did not have full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Notably, the Bush administration did accept aid from the government of Taiwan , with which the United States does not have full diplomatic relations either.
Do you believe every press release Fidel and Raul put out?
I kind of feel like the next level of evolution, wandering around through the dinosaurs.
Just have to watch where I step.
Anthony...and you...you believe all that the good ol' boys in Washington put out????
Smoking Gun....we found Bin Ladin.....Mission Accomplished.....blah blah blah..........
Cuba: Run by a Murderous Dictator and his Brother.
No free press.
No free elections.
No Freedom of Speech.
No open access to the internet.
Explain to me again why anyone should believe anything the Cuban Government says?
Show me a young Conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains. - Winston Churchill
From: United States
Conservative and Liberal and there is barely any difference either. They all play musical chairs but serve the same masters, not us, but we all get shafted. Is that any difference to a dictatorship? "
If that is what you believe then you have already lost.
http://thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=511
Probably ran out of plywood with all those people building those Cuban Mini Yachts .
You know the one's they sail to the Key's on for the weekend.
I still think the US could make an exception , but only after we fix our own cities.
Hundreds of Cuban medical workers defecting to U.S. while overseas
http://www.coha.org/2007/10/hundr....s-defecting-to-us-while-overseas/
Hundreds of Cuban medical workers defecting to U.S. while overseas
The Castro regime has used these medical professionals as a vehicle for its international propaganda,” Carbonell said.
Carbonell said 1,000 Cuban medical personnel have entered the United States under the new policy. But there are glitches. A group of Cuban doctors in Colombia was stranded there for months after applying.