Fidel receives Guatemala's highest honor

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom arrived in Havana yesterday afternoon on an official visit to Cuba.

Some context: Guatemala’s 70 year life expectancy ranks as one of the lowest in the Hemisphere—a full eight years below those of close neighbors Costa Rica and the United States—and there is little potential for improvement when the country’s current annual health care spending is a mere $15 per capita (according to data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean).

Cuba’s generous policy of “exporting health” is consequently welcomed with open arms in Guatemala, and is good reason for President Colom to personally come to Havana to thank the Castros. Yesterday, in a gesture of his gratitude for over 17 million medical consultations and more than 40,000 eye surgeries performed by Cuban doctors in Guatemala, Colom offered to Fidel Guatemala’s highest distinction—the Order of Quetzal (Collar grade). Raul accepted the honor on his older sibling’s behalf.

Read more in Cuba’s Las Tunas local newspaper.