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"Communist propaganda is one thing, the miserable reality of the people is another," says former Colombian president

The former president spoke with Cuban doctors about the health sector of the Castro regime and then defended the medical system in Colombia, which Petro is trying to change

El expresidente de Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez
El expresidente de Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez | EFE

April 24, 2023 9:05am

Updated: April 24, 2023 9:05am

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez spoke Thursday through a video on Twitter with two Cuban doctors about the health system on the island implemented by the Castro regime.

The Cuban professionals, accompanied during the debate by a Colombian citizen who owns a clinic in Miami, and a Venezuelan doctor, criticized the health system of the communist regime, and delved into the lack of resources and medical supplies, and the shortage of medicines in his country.

The specialists told Uribe that health care in the Cuban "socialist system" is not universal or fair.

"There is a lack of resources, a lack of education, a lack of medicine, that is what is lacking. Because everything there is for those who have, and the rest of the people are left behind. There is no universality of health as it is presented to us. It is not egalitarian. No, we have nothing," replied one of the health professionals to the former Colombian president.

Uribe also inquired about the reason why they left Cuba and one of the doctors responded forcefully: "Freedom, more than anything, for freedom."

"This is a new generation, unaffected by the prejudices that my generation may have had. They have studied in Cuba and have had to leave their homeland due to their frustration with communism," Uribe concluded in the video.

The former president explained that these opinions are important in order to understand the effects of public policies in countries with leftist governments. In addition, Uribe made a strong defense of the Colombian health system, which he described as "mixed, supportive and without a state monopoly."

 

A few months ago, the Colombian vice president, Francia Marquéz, praised the impoverished Cuban health system and assured during a visit to the island that it is what she wants for Colombia. After her statements, she received strong criticism, and was even questioned by several Cuban doctors.

A public health reform bill is currently being evaluated in Colombia and has been postponed again due to opposition from major political parties. The objective of the initiative promoted by the former left-wing guerrilla, President Gustavo Petro, is to transform the current health model to -according to the government, make health a universal right and not a "business."