• Submitted by: admin
• International
• South America
• Politics and Government
• 10 / 02 / 2007

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that his country owes Cuba "much more for their medical assistance than what Cuba could owe Venezuela for oil sent to the island."

Analyzing the state of Cuban-Venezuelan exchange during his televised Alo Presidente program, Chavez said that 30,000 Cuban doctors and nurses working in Venezuela for a little more than five years have saved more lives than the entire history of the countrys health services. "You cant put a price on that [...] it is worth much more than what we contribute with our modest oil shipments," AP reported Chavez as saying.

"Those that accuse me of giving away oil to Cuba are fools. If you were to add it up, Bolivar to Bolivar, penny to penny, what is worth more, in objective pricing, the barrels of oil we sell to Cuba or this?"

Among the statistics, the Venezuelan president referred to the close to 9 million people receiving permanent care, the approximately 60 million free doctor visits performed and the 1,153 childrens lives that have been saved so far in 2007, all thanks to Cuban physicians.

Source: Granma