I'm not being ironic.
Joanna
Ira Glazer wrote:
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article333837.ece
>
> [the 'evil ' twins strike again]
>
> By Tom Fawthrop in Havana
> Published: 18 December 2005
>
> The rich tourists whose luxury yachts once crowded the idyllic Marina
> Hemingway complex on the outskirts of the Cuban capital are shocked to
> find all Havana's hotel rooms fully booked until mid-2006. More than a
> dozen hotels have been temporarily closed to tourists to make way for
> a different kind of visitor. Most of them arrive nearly blind; but all
> will be able to see perfectly before they leave.
>
> A remarkable humanitarian programme is under way here, which aims to
> restore the sight of six million people through free eye surgery.
> Launched in July by the 79-year-old Cuban President, Fidel Castro, and
> Venezuela's Socialist leader, President Hugo Chavez, Operation Miracle
> has brought daily planeloads of the poor from across Latin America and
> the Caribbean to Havana for surgery. Cuba provides the medical skills,
> Venezuela the petro-dollars.
>
> People suffering from cataracts and other eye conditions that can be
> quickly remedied are candidates.
>
> Cuba's comprehensive, free healthcare system has a ratio of one doctor
> for every 170 Cubans, compared with 188 in the US and 250 in the UK.
>
>
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