DILI, 25 april 2022 (TATOLI) – Timor-Leste and Cuba, on saturday, celebrated the 20th anniversary of bilateral relations with a solidarity march from the Cuban Embassy to B. J. Habibie Garden, in Dili.
The General Secretary of the Timor-Leste-Cuba Friendship Association, Herculano Seixas dos Santos said the solidarity march was to celebrate the bilateral relations between the two countries.
During the celebration, the association called on the United States to end its embargo against Cuba.
The United States embargo against Cuba prevents American businesses, and businesses organized under US law or majority-owned by American citizens, from conducting trade with Cuban interests.
“Through this solidarity march, we would like to call on the United States to end its embargo against Cuba,” Santos told reporters at the B. J. Habibie Garden, in Dili.
Since the establishment of the bilateral relations 20 years ago, more than 1.000 doctors and 40 specialty doctors had been produced.
“In addition, the presence of the Cuban doctors in Timor-Leste helped the Ministry of Health (MoH) to improve the nation’s health services delivery. For instance, working together in combating TB, and malnutrition had helped to improve the lives of many Timorese people,” he said.
Santos called on the government to establish an institute of cardiology, neurology, cancer, and nephrology to minimize sending patients overseas: “We also want the government to send more Timorese doctors to pursue their specialty at medical school abroad to reduce our dependency on overseas doctors.”
“We haven’t had enough specialty doctors to be deployed to our referral hospitals,” he added.
At the same place, Chargé d’Affaires of the Cuban Embassy in Timor-Leste, Yudith Sanchez Espinosa said that the cooperation between Cuba and Timor-Leste was going well, particularly with the healthcare quality improvement.
“The presence of the Cuban doctors in Timor-Leste had helped to support the Ministry of Health in improving the health services delivery,” she said.
Present at the solidarity march included medical students of the Lorosa’e National University (UNTL) and the Cuban and Timorese doctors.
Journalist: Felicidade Ximenes
Editor: Cancio Ximenes/Nelia Borges Rosario
Translation: Filomeno Martins
