Brazilian cooperation with Cuba in Haiti was at the top of the agenda during a meeting between Cuban First Vice President José Ramón Machado and new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Machado attended the inauguration of Rousseff Jan. 1 in Brasilia; the Cuban meeting with Rousseff was one of seven bilateral meetings the new president held Jan. 2. During the meeting with Rousseff, the two countries decided to increase aid for Haiti, which is battling a cholera epidemic.">Brazilian cooperation with Cuba in Haiti was at the top of the agenda during a meeting between Cuban First Vice President José Ramón Machado and new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Machado attended the inauguration of Rousseff Jan. 1 in Brasilia; the Cuban meeting with Rousseff was one of seven bilateral meetings the new president held Jan. 2. During the meeting with Rousseff, the two countries decided to increase aid for Haiti, which is battling a cholera epidemic.">

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Brazil to increase Haiti aid via Cuba

Brazilian cooperation with Cuba in Haiti was at the top of the agenda during a meeting between Cuban First Vice President José Ramón Machado and new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Machado attended the inauguration of Rousseff Jan. 1 in Brasilia; the Cuban meeting with Rousseff was one of seven bilateral meetings the new president held Jan. 2.

During the meeting with Rousseff, the two countries decided to increase aid for Haiti, which is battling a cholera epidemic. In what is one of the largest third-country contributions to Cuban-led medical programs abroad, Brazil last April pledged to provide $80 million under a trilateral agreement with Cuba and Haiti. The program includes renovation and reconstruction of hospitals, construction of clinics and other basic healthcare centers, establishing a national epidemiology center, provision of ambulances, and vaccination campaigns.

At a bilateral meeting planned for the next few weeks, Brazil and Cuba will “look for other ways under the agreement that can allow a more effective and complete assistance in the area of health” in Haiti, according to the Brazilian presidency. Brazil’s new foreign minister, Antônio Patriota, will coordinate the effort.

Some 1,500 Cuban health professionals are currently working in Haiti. As of Dec. 31, the Cuban Medical Brigade saved more than 50,000 Haitians infected with cholera and reduced to 0.54 percent the mortality rate of the disease in the health institutions under their management, according to Cuban sources.

Cuba is also heading a $690 million program to rebuild Haiti’s healthcare system.

According to Cuban official media, Machado and Rousseff also talked about Brazilian support for the ongoing expansion of the Port of Mariel, and about soy cultivation in Cuba.

A week earlier, the Brazilian ambassador in Havana said the new administration wants to continue the close cooperation with Cuba begun under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.


Source: www.cubastandard.com/2011/01/03/brazil-to-increase-haiti-aid-via-cuba/

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