Castro Offers Doctors Aid to the US

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Castro parades doctors ready for Katrina aid

Reuters
September 4, 2005

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro put on display some 1,500 doctors equipped with medical supplies on Sunday in hopes of persuading arch-enemy the United States to allow them to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Castro, in a televised meeting with the doctors, said the United States had not responded to his offer to send medical workers and 26 tons of supplies to the devastated U.S. Gulf Coast.

He first made the offer public during a Television presentation on Friday, saying political enmity should be put aside during such a crisis.

The doctors, each with a green rucksack filled with emergency medicines, were brought to Havana over the weekend, Castro said, and were ready to leave at a moment's notice.

The Cuban leader read out news stories describing a lack of medical attention for Katrina refugees and those still trapped in Louisiana and Mississippi a week after the storm hit.

"These doctors could all already be there providing their services," Castro said.

"Forty-eight hours have passed and we still haven't received any response to our offer ... We will wait patiently as many days as are necessary," he said.

The Communist nation regularly sends medical assistance to other countries hit by natural disasters.


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"No offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused"

-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice-


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