President Correa Thanks Cuba For Cooperation With Ecuador

Ecuadoran masses rally in defense of the government of President Rafael Correa who was the target of an attempted coup led by rogue elements within the police and the military on September 30, 2010. The coup was defeated., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Havana
November 23, 2011

Correa thanks Cuba for cooperation with Ecuador

QUITO—Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa affirmed that cooperation with Cuba is to continue and especially thanked the country for its support, in the form of doctors, for the Manuela Espejo Solidarity Mission, a project for research into and the treatment of disabilities. His thanks were in response to a question from Cuban Television during a conference with foreign correspondents.

He added, "In fact, I have to acknowledge that the cooperation has been virtually one way, and this is a great debt that the Ecuadorian people owe to the Cubans.

He mentioned that Cuba is training, free of charge, 1,757 Ecuadorian students at Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), selecting very poor youth.

"Cuba has helped Ecuador tremendously," Correa emphasized, adding that his government is trying to repay that generosity in some way. He gave the example of purchasing medicaments from the island, which is a large producer of them.

"We are deeply grateful for all the support that Cuba has given and will continue to give to the Manuela Espejo Mission, which is so important for the national government and the entire country," he affirmed.

More than 300 Cuban specialists in various branches of medicine, nurses and technical personnel worked on this mission in Ecuador for more than 12 months, under the direction of the vice presidency of the Republic, during which time they visited close to 1.3 million homes in the country’s 24 provinces.

As a result of this survey, 294,166 people with disabilities were identified, of which 26,327 are acute cases.

Cuba also has 43 professionals attached to Mission Miracle in Ecuador, who have performed ophthalmological surgery free of charge on 110,000 Ecuadorians; 53 specialists on the "Yes, I Can Do It" literacy program; and 46 sports instructors and trainers. (PL)