US medical students in Cuba receive temporary reprieve

A controversial new policy that threatened to force 80 medical students from poor areas of the United States who are studying in Cuba to leave the island has been suspended. The policy was met with a barrage of protests. Congresswoman Barbara Lee and 27 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell on 23 June stating that the medical students “have pledged to return to their respective communities and offer low cost health care to those who cannot afford it.” They added that “the proposal would punish not only the students, but also the lives of those United States residents who [would have benefited] greatly from their skills in the future.” The students, largely African-American, Hispanic, and poor whites, had been awarded full scholarships, including books, tuition, food, and housing, by the Cuban government. The policy would have ended the right of US citizens to enjoy “fully hosted” stays in Cuba (stays paid for by Cubans or third parties) (News Extra 3 July BMJ 2004;329:14). A State Department official told the BMJ that the decision to end fully hosted stays grew out of recommendations by Bush's Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. The commission's plan outlines the administration's intent to “hasten Cuba's transition” to a “post-Castro, democratic existence” under a “proactive, integrated, and disciplined approach to undermine the survival strategies of the Castro regime and contribute to conditions that will help the Cuban people hasten the dictatorship's end.” www.state.gov/documents/organization/32318.pdf The official also told BMJ that, “after review and further consideration” Secretary Powell and the State Department will work to implement changes so that medical students would be eligible for a special licence to study in Cuba—they would not spend money in Cuba but would instead use Cuban money to fund their education. Being forced to obtain a licence is not a panacea, however, says Lucia Bruno, communications director of the Inter-religious Foundation for Community Organization, which helps to place students in the Cuban programme “We're optimistic,” said Ms Bruno, “but we're waiting to see what they [the US government] actually put down on paper. Why are they asking for a licence? You don't have to apply for a licence to study medicine in France or England or China. Why should the students have to apply to study in Cuba?” Worse, says Ms Bruno, the US government has acted capriciously in the past by arbitrarily revoking the freedom to travel to Cuba for virtually all US citizens, including the medical students. “It speaks to the kind of punitive viewpoint that Bush follows in his Cuba policy.”