Havana, Cuba.-A group of young Colombians, who postponed their dreams because of an armed conflict that lasted over half a century, came to Cuba to realize their dream to study medicine and help forge a new nation without mines and bullets.
The group arrived on a hot Saturday afternoon at José Martí International Airport and each face reflected the happiness that the youth of that South American country deserve.
The scholarships to study at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) were offered by the Cuban government last March to the government of Colombia and to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army.
This initiative proposes to grant one thousand scholarships at the rate of 200 annually in the next five years.
This is a contribution from the Cuban government to the process of implementing the Peace Agreement in Havana and post conflict in Colombia.
Speaking to Prensa Latina, the young Duerney Pérez said: I come from the department of Caquetá, very affected by the violence that generated the war.
The opportunity to be in Cuba is great because the model of health system here is designed to serve the human being selflessly, always trying to prevent disease and I think that’s fantastic, he pointed out.
Cuba, in spite of its limitations during the course of the Revolution as a result of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than 50 years, remains at the forefront in the field of medicine at international level, he added.
It is interesting what I have heard about Cuba, because it is a country that shares what it has and not what it has left, and from that philosophy we want to learn, to contribute to Colombian rural development, he said.
‘I am a Colombian, I come to this country to study medicine and I have great expectations in this academic experience, because Cuba has a great prestige at an international level,’ said Erika Benavides, 24.
Someday I would like to specialize in cosmetic surgery, but as time goes by and I get more knowledge in Cuba I can decide for some branch of the Medical Sciences, explained Benavides, a young woman who saw her dreams postponed due to an armed conflict that went beyond half a century.
‘The arrival of peace in Colombia is a momentous thing for the world and for the new generations of my country, who will be able to see the progress of a nation after so many years of war,’ he said.
The rector of the Latin American School of Medicine, Antonio López, explained to Prensa Latina that it is planned that young Colombians will join the academic activities corresponding to the health system of Cuba.
Students will receive the same program as the foreigners who are coming to study in Cuba, which is identical to that of the national students.
For a better organization, the geographical area where they came from, the sociocultural characteristics, the personal interests and the health system of their country of origin were taken into account.
It will be a challenge for us to have these boys in our classrooms, taking into account their written history of life in the midst of an armed conflict that lasted more than half a century, but we will train them as good doctors to fulfill their great social mission.
The Latin American School of Medicine – a dream of leader Fidel Castro – has graduated more than 28 thousand doctors for the world and more than 900 are Colombians, said the rector of the ELAM.