“This brigade has done exemplary work providing coverage (…) in all this sister republic’s public institutions. The results achieved make us proud to have you as part of this army of white coats which has given a resounding demonstration of solidarity in these difficult times,” the President stated to the 49 doctors who arrived in Havana January 23, a group including 20 women and 29 men from 12 provinces and the Isle of Youth special municipality, of whom 20 are specialists in General Comprehensive Medicine, one in Epidemiology, two in Clinical Laboratory, two in Imaging and two in Electromedicine, in addition to 22 registered nurses.

After receiving training in the different services provided by the Belize Public Health System, the Cuban professionals were distributed across the nation’s six regions, working in all public health institutions, as part of multidisciplinary teams with their Belizean counterparts and health care workers from other countries.

They conducted action research in institutions, communities, and border areas; assumed positions in emergency rooms and isolation units for COVID-19 patients in serious and critical condition; attended ambulatory patients in outpatient areas, providing hospital services, including those in the country’s mother-child program; and contributed with their experience in areas like diagnostic tools, special chemicals, and plasmapheresis, as well as in the repair and maintenance of medical equipment.

(Taken from Granma)

In a cordial environment, the two leaders discussed the positive state of bilateral relations between their countries and agreed to continue strengthening ties. They also discussed topics of interest on the regional and international agenda.

Accompanying the distinguished visitor was Lou-Anne Burns Martínez, the country’s ambassador in Havana.

Participating on the Cuban side were Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz; the Ministry’s general director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez; as well as Cuba’s ambassador in Belize, Lissette Pérez
Pérez.

(Granma)

The positive trend of the yes reached 95.89 percent of support after scrutinizing 92.80 percent of the votes nationwide, according to data offered at a press conference by Gustavo Castillo, IT director of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The No only met 4.11 percent of the vote, although the data is preliminary until its official publication on April 20, as determined by law.

The day passed without incidents of violence and managed to call 24.4 percent of the registered population, a little over 7.5 million, confirmed Maria Eugenia Mijangos, president of the TSE in press conference four hours after the close of the schools.

Apathy dominated again the suffrages as it happened in 1994 (15.58 percent) and 1999 (18.55 percent), a fact that Mijangos attributed to the insufficient culture of participation of the population in this type of events.

However, he thanked the Guatemalans who exercised their right to vote and showed the world that ‘we are a people of peace and we understand and can be interested in important issues for our country.’

When questioned for alleged deficiencies in the information campaign, Mijangos said she was satisfied with the work of everyone, especially the young people and the polling stations, together with eight thousand volunteers.

The maximum representative of the TSE said that once validated the final data will be transferred to the Congress and the Executive.

The Guatemalan government insisted on the information campaigns prior to the vote on the need to put an end to the borderline lack of definition, today a line of adjacency that generates frequent tensions and civilian victims on both sides.

The Central American country arrived at the referendum on April 15 after an agreement with Belmopan signed in 2015 so that each nation, in turn, would take the issue to the approval of its population.

Guatemala took the first step despite criticism of the high spending of the suffrage, some 300 million quetzales (about 41 million dollars).

This is not counting the amount that would have to be paid later to the lawyers who will carry out the case in the ICJ, which could take five to eight years to give their verdict.

Analysts predict that the favorable outcome will demonstrate the will of the nation to comply with international decisions in peace, although a similar attitude by Belize will have to be expected.

The Embassy of Belmopan confirmed the day before that they are currently updating their electoral register and an information campaign to call a consultation by the end of this year or the beginning of the other.

(Prensa Latina)

Representatives of the bloc will review the epidemiological situation affecting the region, with cases of the Zika virus reported in several islands while the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) noted the strong possibility of the disease spreading to other countries in the area.

The organization must present an action plan to tackle the eventual spread of the virus before the forum.

CARICOM will draw up strategies to ensure that member countries benefit from the final agreement of the UN Climate Change Conference, recently held in Paris, which included some of the proposals submitted by the bloc.

Representatives will also review recommendations made by a ministerial committee regarding the risk posed to relations between regional and foreign banks as well as the possible loss of access to international financing.

The group has expressed its concern over the decision by various U.S. and European entities to withdraw financial services in the Caribbean, signaling a lack of confidence due to the arbitrary and unsubstantiated categorization of the region as a financial high risk area; a situation which will negatively impact local economies and foreign investment.

Another point on the agenda of the meeting which ended February 17, was the appointment of the new Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States, a role to be assumed by a representative of the bloc for the 2016-2020 period.

CARICOM was founded July 4, 1973 with the signing of the Chaguaramas Treaty and is composed of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nieves, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Belize, Barbados, Granada, Guyana and Suriname.

(Prensa Latina)