Bronco Bob
09-25-2007, 04:25 PM
47 million American citizens not so lucky:
Bush, Chavez, Castro Wield Scalpels in Fight for Latin America
Bill Faries
Wed Sep 19, 12:15 AM ET
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The latest battle for influence in Latin America is pitting the U.S. Navy's medical corps against brigades of Cuban and Venezuelan doctors.
President George W. Bush, eager to limit fallout from congressional delays in approving trade deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia, has dispatched the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to the region. With 12 operating rooms and a 1,000-bed hospital, the converted oil tanker has performed about 180,000 free surgeries and exams since June.
The U.S. health offensive is designed to blunt the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro, both of whom provide free medical care in Latin America and the Caribbean, often subsidized by Venezuelan oil proceeds. Cuba also builds clinics and hospitals and trains foreign medical students in a six-year curriculum at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
Skeptics say the Comfort's port calls won't substantially enhance America's influence in the hemisphere. ``It's hard for the U.S. to compete with Cuba and Venezuela in this way,'' said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy- research group in Washington. ``It makes us look like we're trying to imitate them. Cuba's doctors aren't docked at port for a couple days but are in the country for years.''
U.S. officials counter that the Comfort's mission ``is a very visible way to demonstrate our commitment to America's friends and neighbors,'' Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes said in a telephone interview.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070919/pl_bloomberg/ajmymowrrm5u
Bush, Chavez, Castro Wield Scalpels in Fight for Latin America
Bill Faries
Wed Sep 19, 12:15 AM ET
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The latest battle for influence in Latin America is pitting the U.S. Navy's medical corps against brigades of Cuban and Venezuelan doctors.
President George W. Bush, eager to limit fallout from congressional delays in approving trade deals with Peru, Panama and Colombia, has dispatched the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to the region. With 12 operating rooms and a 1,000-bed hospital, the converted oil tanker has performed about 180,000 free surgeries and exams since June.
The U.S. health offensive is designed to blunt the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro, both of whom provide free medical care in Latin America and the Caribbean, often subsidized by Venezuelan oil proceeds. Cuba also builds clinics and hospitals and trains foreign medical students in a six-year curriculum at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
Skeptics say the Comfort's port calls won't substantially enhance America's influence in the hemisphere. ``It's hard for the U.S. to compete with Cuba and Venezuela in this way,'' said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy- research group in Washington. ``It makes us look like we're trying to imitate them. Cuba's doctors aren't docked at port for a couple days but are in the country for years.''
U.S. officials counter that the Comfort's mission ``is a very visible way to demonstrate our commitment to America's friends and neighbors,'' Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes said in a telephone interview.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070919/pl_bloomberg/ajmymowrrm5u