Volleying back now to the Prime Minister: At yesterday's "Guest Lecture" at the University of Belize, he spoke to the students about delicate state of relations between Belize and the US as it relates to the Cuban medical Brigade:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"And as to the Cuban Brigade, you know, you feel very strongly about the Cuban brigade, we are very grateful for the tremendous work that they have done. And, and that they are in areas where we don't want to be some of our doctors. And also they have specialties that we don't have. We are in some delicate negotiations, both with the Americans and hopefully with the Cubans, to see if we can find a hybrid, to be able to keep, as many as possible of, of the Cuban doctors, here."
"But as you know, we are just a speck in a big pond and know we have our big brothers in the in the up north. And they don't care about anything. They just say you do it or we are. Then we are going to deal with you. And now just imagine we said to hell with you. We are with Cuba. We are going to raise the flag and all of that. And then they said, we are going to cancel, all the visas for Belizeans. You all will be the first ones that will jump on my back. True or false? True or false? Be honest. Be honest. You all will be the first ones to jump on our back that what's wrong with you. We are going to lose our visa and we can't go to the United states. I say that to make the point that we have to be able to, to to diplomatically see how we could walk that fine line, to be able to see what best we can do for our citizens."
"But at the same time, the Ministry of Health is already looking at trying to get more doctors to Belize, through El Salvador and Nicaragua. But then UB Doc. We're looking for that within a few years, you are going to be producing doctors that we could take then we could take care of our own so."
Many students have chosen not to attend due to the high cost of the UB School of Medicine.
