Posted on 03/30/2020 10:47:43 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Andorra la Vella (Andorra) (AFP) - Thirty-nine Cuban doctors and nurses arrived on Monday in the tiny Pyrenean principality of Andorra to help it battle the coronavirus, the Andorran health ministry said, part of an international drive by Havana that has sparked controversy.
Andorra is now the second European state after Italy to have received help from Cuba, whose export of medical services has long been one of the motors of its socialist economy.
Andorra has asked for the help from 12 doctors and 27 nurses from Cuba to relieve its own medical staff, 60 of whom have had to stop work for fear they might have caught the virus, its Health Minister Joan Martinez Benazet told AFP.
The microstate of just 77,000 people, wedged between France and Spain and best known as a ski resort, has been hit hard by the virus, which has killed seven and left 11 in intensive care.
Communist Cuba has so far sent medical teams to Italy, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Grenada, Suriname, Jamaica and Belize to battle the coronavirus.
But the US State Department has condemned the assistance, saying Cuba "keeps most of the salary its doctors and nurses earn while serving in its international medical missions while exposing them to egregious labor conditions."
Havana has dismissed such comments as a campaign of lies to discredit the doctors it has sent around the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
39 Cuban doctors that won’t be returning to Cuba.
Isn’t this the only province in Spain that wasn’t conquered and enslaved by the muslims moors?
Exactly! Cuba’s vaunted medical system just lost three dozen employees.
Andorra is an individual country or principality, much like San Marino.
I believe whoever is President of France automatically assumes the title “Prince of Andorra”.
Thought they were talking about cigars....
Their families are still in Cuba to encourage their return.
The cigars would be more useful than Cuban doctors.
How many Cubans does it take to change a light bulb?
Well at least to Bill Clinton.
Unless they have loved ones whose well-being they care for.
Hard to say, since they don't have light bulbs.
What I was thinking.
Andorra is a seperate, soveriegn nation, and is not a part of Spain.
Bsck in 1492 - it probably was part of Spain though
It’s Wikipedia, so take it how you will, but this is interesting.
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Andorra does not have its own armed forces,[2] although there is a small ceremonial army. Responsibility for defending the nation rests primarily with France and Spain.[136] However, in case of emergencies or natural disasters, the Sometent (an alarm) is called and all able-bodied men between 21 and 60 of Andorran nationality must serve.[137][138] This is why all Andorrans, and especially the head of each house (usually the eldest able-bodied man of a house) should, by law, keep a rifle, even though the law also states that the police will offer a firearm in case of need.
It’s been independent since Charlemagne, except for brief periods of occupation by French troops before WWII.
“The cigars would be more useful than Cuban doctors.”
if any of the stories I’ve heard about Cuba’s medical training are correct, you are right about the cigars being more useful than the doctors.
Jeopardy question: “Who was Samantha Steven’s TV Mother in the show called “Bewitched”?
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