Over 5,000 Doctors Worked in Brazilian Poor Areas Already in Cuba

Flights 23 and 24 from Brasilia landed at the Jose Marti international airport in Havana when the return of the aid workers began on November 22, amid the hostility unleashed by President-elect Jair Bolsonaro against the Cuban government and doctors.

Bolsonaro, who will take office on January 1, advanced his intention to violate agreements with the Pan American Health Organization to activate the program in 2013 by announcing that he would force Cuban doctors to revalidate their degrees and individual contracts.

Authorities from various sectors came to welcome the doctors at the Jose Marti international airport in the capital, including Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso, Communist Party Central Committee member Joel Queipo and Deputy Health Minister Alfredo Gonzalez.

Dr. Darlinis Gomez expressed on behalf of her colleagues the pride for returning to the homeland and the willingness to be wherever the Revolution needs them.

On November 14, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health announced the decision not to continue participating in More Doctors program, due to Bolsonaro’s conditions and threats. Some 8,300 collaborators were in Brazil at that time.