Exporting medicine and influence

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159

[illiteratepresident]

A miracle of Cuban know-how and Venezuelan oil money

IT MAY be the world's largest medical college. The Latin American School of Medical Science, on the western edge of Havana, has 10,000 students, making it nearly ten times the size of its largest equivalent in the United States. The students are all foreigners: most are from elsewhere in Latin America, but they include 91 Americans. The school is one of several ways in which communist Cuba is using its medical prowess to win friends abroad.

That prowess has been questioned by some of the regime's opponents because of unofficial reports that Fidel Castro, Cuba's president, has undergone three failed operations for diverticulitis (a swelling of the wall of the intestine). But there is as yet no reason to blame the president's doctors for his health problems.


The medical school was founded in 1998. Only two classes have so far graduated from its six-year programme. Its buildings are not imposing; many of its students are dispersed on satellite campuses around Cuba. But tuition, accommodation and board are all free.

The school is only one aspect of Cuba's commitment to exporting medicine. Another is the deployment of Cuban doctors overseas. Hundreds were sent to Central America in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters in the 1990s. More than 15,000 doctors and dentists are working for Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in a Cuban-designed family-doctor programme. Others have been sent to Bolivia, to support Evo Morales's government, and to Ecuador. More may go to Nicaragua, and to Ecuador: both countries recently elected presidents friendly to Mr Castro. Farther afield, Pakistan's prime minister this month singled out Cuban doctors for their help after a 2005 earthquake which killed some 74,000 people.

www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8597159