Four Cuban Medics Defect in Chile

Four Cuban Medics Defect in Chile

SANTIAGO – Four members of a Cuban medical delegation that went to Chile
on an aid mission after the Feb. 27 earthquake left the group to remain
in the Andean nation, Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said Friday.

The defectors belonged to the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, made up of 72
volunteers who worked in field hospitals in Rancagua and Chillan, and
who this Friday returned to the island.

The four Cubans "have not sought asylum or protection, they have simply
chosen to stay here to try and work in Chile," Moreno said.

Cuba's ambassador to Chile, Ileana Diaz-Argüelles, downplayed the matter
and said that "what is important is that most of them did return."

"The important thing to stress are the results achieved by the majority
of that brigade that came to offer their collaboration. The others who
decided not to return home have made a personal decision," she told
Radio Cooperativa.

The defectors were identified as Argelio Santana Cano, the
traumatologist Joel Hernandez de Leon and the anesthetist Orlando
Campuzano, while the identity of the fourth doctor remains unknown.

Dagoberto Hernandez, spokesman for the Solidarity with Cuba Association,
said on Radio Cooperativa that he received an e-mail from Argelio
Santana announcing his decision to stay in Chile.

In the message Santana said that this is "a painful decision," that he
will continue "being Cuban" and that he does not wish to be seen "as an
enemy or a traitor to his country."

The Henry Reeve Medical Brigade arrived in Chile a few days after the
magnitude-8.8 quake and subsequent tsunami that killed some 400 people.

The doctors went to work in field hospitals in Rancagua and Chillan,
where they attended close to 79,000 doctor's visits and performed more
than 3,000 surgical operations.

A ceremony was held this Thursday to bid the delegation farewell. EFE

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