C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000188

SIPDIS

DEPT PASS USAID LAC/AA
NSC FOR TOM SHANNON/KIM BREIER
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/06/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY TO END CUBAN DOCTORS PROGRAM

REF: 04 ASUNCION 1602

Classified By: Charge Kevin M. Johnson, reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (U) On February 4, Minister of Health Julio Cesar
Velasquez announced that the GOP will terminate a program
that brings doctors from Cuba to live and practice in rural
areas of Paraguay. According to the announcement, the
current group of Cuban doctors set to finish in December will
be the last. Paraguayan doctors trained in Cuba and required
to serve in rural areas for one year will take the place of
their Cuban counterparts.


2. (C) Comment: Although the announcement was innocuously
worded to sound as if an increasing supply of Paraguayan
doctors were eliminating the need for the Cuban doctors, the
GOP's decision is more likely a reflection of President
Duarte's growing unease with leftist activities in the
country. Minister of the Interior Nelson Mora recently told
EmbOff that Duarte's patience had run out due to the
involvement of a local leftist party, Patria Libre, in a
major kidnapping. There is evidence of FARC connections to
Patria Libre, and reported plans for wider criminal and
subversive activity in the countryside have alarmed and
angered the GOP (ref A and septel to follow).
JOHNSON