Least the devaluation news would not be enough to illustrate how fast Venezuela is falling apart.
A few moths ago it was reported that the famous Barrio Adentro Mision had about half of its module closed (1). In a cadena a couple of months later Chavez claimed that the Mision had been relaunched, that things were working fine and that soon all modules would be operative. Well, it seems that this not going to happen anytime soon. In addition to the poor management qualities of Venezuelan chavista administration this week we learned that at least a couple of hundred Cuban doctors have defected as simply as taking an airplane to Miami. But for that they had to pay the customs officials to stamp their passport. Many did, authorized in some cases by bribed Cubans supervisors who unaccountably exert apparently important controlling posts at Venezuelan airports!
No major declaration form the Chavez administration so far.... but you can find a nice account in Spanish from Bogota's El Tiempo (for the kick of it) or in English at the Latin American Herald. And more of course, in English at El Universal and in Spanish at the Miami Heraldo.
Devaluation and Barrio Adentro failing hopelessly: no wonder Chavez is such a sour puss these days....
1) Mision Barrio Adentro. The government flagship social program in trouble. The government claims that there are several thousands of those modules which are just a small octagonal building with an apartment for the doctor and a consultation room where some preventive and internal medicine can be operated. Some medicines are handed down for free and cases requiring something more are forwarded to the closest hospital. Most medics were Cuban as too many Venezuelans refused to serve because 1) their safety was not guaranteed and 2) the pay was lousy. In an effort to avoid collapse the Venezuelan government is training as fast as it can Venezuelan supporters to replace them as they obviously cannot stay forever. The training lasts three years. You may make your own conclusions as to the general quality of the service.
I'm only surprised that it took so long.
ReplyDeleteWhy are they not using the border with Colombia to cross and then head off to Miami? Or head over to Falcon get boats over to Aruba or Curacao and then a plane over to Miami. I would stay away from Maiquetia as the chances of getting caught are now too large.
Cuban American support group based in Miami(with plenty of Miami based Venezuelan help) should be raising funds to help more barrio adentro Cuban Doctors get out of Venezuela. Contact the US Ambassador in Bogota and ask for his help to insure that the Doctors can enter Colombia temporarily on their way to MIA with out problems. Same with consul officials in the Dutch Antilles. Aruba may be a better choice as Aruba needs a good PR campaign after the Natalie dissapearance (Curacao needs to be careful with Caracas due to the importance of la refineria Isla).
Amigos Doctores tomen unas gaguas (buses) a San Antonio, Tachira y crucen a Colombia. Hay que hacerlo rapido por que los Chavistas y sus controladores cubanos se lo van a poner mas dificil desde ahora.
Alejo VZLA Paraiso Perdido.
PS I'm in Europe so too far to reach parties which can help in Miami;perhaps other regular readers of Daniel's Blog who are based in Miami would care to share the idea with the Miami based support groups. On the other hand this type of project maybe already be very active in MIA and we're just getting word about it as a result of their recent successes.
Meh, typical. Scratch a Cuban find a running dawg capitalist every time.
ReplyDelete:)
Hiya GatorGab!
Too funny HE. The Cuban "doctors" can stay in Venzuela. We don't need more in Miami. Maybe they can start converting the natives to the true Cuban way of life.
ReplyDeleteHey halfempty and Daniel - long time since I posted. Then truth is I also haven't been following as I've been busy being a capitalist and investing in stocks and doing foreign currency trading.
ReplyDeleteBut I did want to echo the fact that Miami does NOT need anymore cuban doctors. The truth is they are not up to the standards of the American medical establishment. Also, it still does not make sense to continue to move Cuba's population to the US (and Europe) when the problem is to remove a DOZEN maximum from positions of power in Cuba.
Until we address the fact that it is the Castros and friends that need to depart Cuba, then all of these rats fleeing the sinking ship need to bite the captain that caused them to go down in the first place. Many of us in Miami are not enamored of the recent arrivals. They spend all of their time criticizing the USA and demanding government help (very different from the initial exiles). They also spend a lot of time calling local spanish radio shows to lend support to the cuban regime. We are simply ready to ship about half of them back to Cuba, in all honesty.
Peace and happy new year to all!
Gatorgab
ReplyDeleteSo why did hey leave Cuba for Miami? Are they merely "economical refugees"?
Well said Gatorgab.I 100 % agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear that if they are calling US radio stations to support Castro, that the reason for coming here is not political.
They basically agree with socialism /communism and want nanny State support, but were unsatisfied with the amount of said support in Cuba.
I would not be surprised that these people were to blame Cuban's problems solely on the US embargo , painting themselves as mere victims of imperialism....