US embassy cable - 05ASUNCION188

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