VENEZUELANS PERFORMING EYE SURGERIES AND MORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000720 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC MDASCHBACH AND WHA/AND RROBINSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2028 TAGS: PREL PROP PGOV SOCI CU VZ PA SUBJECT: VENEZUELANS PERFORMING EYE SURGERIES AND MORE REF: A. 07 ASUN 263 ¶B. ASUN 363 ¶C. 07 ASUN 576 Classified By: DCM Michael J. Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -Q -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Venezuela's ""Miracle Mission"" Program has sent several thousand Paraguayans abroad for free eye surgeries and ""leadership"" training in Cuba and Venezuela. The last Paraguayan government signed an agreement with Venezuela in April 2006 to launch the program, and the Lugo administration extended it following Lugo's August inauguration. The program operates without Health Ministry oversight and Paraguay's civil aviation authority has no control over the program's chartered flights operating among Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba. Many, perhaps a majority, of the program's participants, in fact, are students who do not need eye surgeries but rather travel to Venezuela for long-term training to expand the ""Bolivarian Revolution."" Health Ministry officials and the press are beginning to scrutinize the program's true mission and demand increased accountability. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE ""MIRACLE MISSION"" PROGRAM -------------- ¶2. (SBU) XXXXXXXXXXXX first told Pol/Econ Chief in July that Venezuela's ""Miracle Mission"" Program operating out of Ciudad del Este's Regional Hospital offers free eye surgeries and ""leadership"" training to Paraguayans in Cuba and Venezuela. She stated that the Venezuelan government transports passengers via chartered planes to either Venezuela or Cuba. She said that there have been 18 flights in total to Venezuela since 2007, with each flight carrying approximately 100 passengers who travel to Cuba or Venezuela for eye surgery and up to ten days of recuperation in military hospitals -- or for up to four months of ""leadership"" training. The newspaper ABC Color reported October 9 that only about 40 percent of the program's participants are ""real"" patients; the remaining passengers are typically college students who receive up to four months of ""social leadership"" training in Venezuela. ¶3. (SBU) Paraguay's Foreign Ministry signed an agreement with Venezuela in April 2006 to launch the program, and the Lugo administration extended it following Lugo's August inauguration (septel). Although the program initially sent patients to Cuba for surgery, most patients now travel to Venezuela for surgeries performed by Venezuelan military doctors. XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that the quality of Venezuelan eye surgeries was substantially better than those performed in Cuba, although patients who returned to Paraguay following surgery still received inadequate follow-up care (ref A). Although the Cuban government's bilateral medical agreement with Paraguay expired in 2006, Cubans continue to operate in Paraguay and refers patients to the ""Miracle Mission"" Program (ref B). The Cuban government concluded an agreement with the Municipality of Maria Auxiliadora, Itapua Department, in 2007 to support its local medical center. XXXXXXXXXXXX estimated that there were 17 Cubans working in Maria Auxiliadora. She expressed concern that the Cubans were also operating in Paraguay with inadequate oversight. Moreover, the 100-plus medical students returning from Cuba are frustrated by their Qability to meet the requirements to practice medicine in Paraguay. (NOTE: There are currently around 800 Paraguayans now studying in Cuba. END NOTE). ¶4. (C) Paraguay's civil aviation authority (DINAC) has little oversight authority over the ""Miracle Mission"" Program's chartered flights operating between Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba. XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that DINAC receives information chartered flights just minutes before they arrive, and is not authorized to (and does not) conduct inspections of the planes, pilots, or cargo. She noted that the Health Ministry received reports that these flights transported shipments -- supposedly containing medical supplies -- in-country without inspection by Paraguayan authorities. Furthermore, XXXXXXXXXXXX noted that passengers' only travel documentation is a letter identifying them as a program participant. Paraguayan immigration authorities do not process or track individuals entering or leaving the country under this program. XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that Paraguayan health officials requested further information about ""Miracle Mission"" flights from the Foreign Ministry under President Duarte, but the ministry refused to cooperate with health officials. -------------- CRITICISMS OF ""MIRACLE MISSION"" -------------- ¶5. (C) XXXXXXXXXXXX confirmed that many of the program's participants are students who do not need eye surgeries but rather travel to Venezuela for long-term training, prompting the press to claim that the program serves as a front for spreading the ""Bolivarian Revolution."" There is no information on how the program selects its patients, although XXXXXXXXXXXX said she believed many are from San Pedro Department. (NOTE: San Pedro remains one of Paraguay's poorest departments. Lugo served there for 11 years as a bishop -- and the area remains a tinder box of social protest against Brazilian soy producers and large-scale agriculture. END NOTE.) XXXXXXXXXXXX also claimed that passengers received propaganda about the ""Bolivarian Revolution"" in flight. ""Miracle Mission"" Program director Pedro Espinoza told ABC Color October 17 that participants receive only medical literature and recommends that participants avoid politics. Several patients who participated in the program denied that they were subject to political manipulation. ¶6. (SBU) While ""Miracle Mission"" began under then-President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, ABC Color reported that Lugo did not consult with the Health Ministry prior to extending the program, and that the program operates without Health Ministry oversight. Espinoza defended the program by arguing that it has the support of the Paraguayan government, the Alto Parana Department government, Ciudad del Este Municipal government, the Health Ministry, and local doctors. XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that health officials have limited access to the program's office and that the Health Ministry has limited information on its activities. She said that a surprise inspection by health officials revealed that the program's office lacked ophthalmological equipment and that no ophthalmological professionals were on staff. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) Operating out of Ciudad del Este's local hospital and regional airport has allowed Venezuela's ""Miracle Mission"" Program to operate ""below the radar,"" outside government or press review. But the Health Ministry and the press are beginning to scrutinize its true mission and demand increased accountability. The program is classic Chavez, a conduit for sending Paraguayan students to Venezuela for Bolivarian-style leadership training under the guise of a free eye surgery campaign. Unlike the U.S. Embassy's medical diplomacy program -- which furnishes donated artificial lenses and medical supplies to help local NGOs perform over 200 free eye surgeries in Paraguay since 2007 (ref C) -- ""Miracle Mission"" is clearly more about indoctrination in a particular social and political vision than it is about improving actual ocular acuity. Like his predecessor, President Lugo has been supportive of the program, and thus far allowed it to operate virtually carte blanche. However, in light of increasingly negative public attention, the Health Ministry may assert some authority over the program. END COMMENT. Please visit us at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/asuncion AYALDE