SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia, June 11—A diverse group of Bolivians including representatives from farm, community and labor groups marched over the weekend to demand free healthcare similar to the services currently being provided by 700 Cuban doctors working in different regions of the country.
The protestors, waving Cuban and Bolivian flags, first gathered in the Students Square of Santa Cruz, reported the Los Tiempos.com web site.
As the march approached the headquarters of the Medical College, the chanting became more intense. Using megaphones, two people began not only supporting the presence of the Cuban doctors but also repudiating the Bolivian physicians who they said practice medicine as a business and oppose the Cubans, instead of providing the free service the population needs.
In an effort to extend healthcare to the previously excluded population, largely indigenous, the Cuban doctors are in Bolivia under an agreement reached between Presidents Evo Morales and Fidel Castro.
