After 15 years of requests, Cuban-Argentine neurosurgeon Hilda Molina was at last granted the necessary permission to leave Cuba and visit her son, grandchildren and ailing mother, all of whom reside in Argentina. Until now, she has been repeatedly denied permission to travel on the basis that her medical knowledge was “Cuban property,” such that last year she resorted to asking the Argentine government to intercede on her behalf. Today Molina told journalists that she had finally been granted the relevant authorization, and her flight from Havana departs Sunday.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner made the announcement of the turnaround personally to her country’s press, saying, “I wanted to tell you the good news,” and calling the Cuban government’s decision “an important gesture from President Raúl Castro.” It is unclear whether the decision is an indication that the Argentine leadership’s push was successful, or whether it is perhaps a sign of compassion from the Cuban regime, as Molina guesses, because her mother’s health has severely deteriorated.
Molina founded Havana’s International Center for Neurological Rehabilitation (Ciren) and served in the Cuban parliament in 1993, but quit in 1994 after a falling out with Fidel Castro. Their argument was over Cuba’s healthcare system, which she believed turned into a profit-making business when the country began catering to “medical tourists” and exporting doctors after the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba certainly needed the extra funds during the period, but Molina argued that the new policy resulted in disparities in quality of treatment between Cubans and foreigners.
Fidel, on the other hand, says that she was forced out of government for trying to take over Ciren.
Whatever the truth on that issue, the fact is: she is a doctor that for 15 years has been kept from leaving the island, even on visit. Her permission, then, is exceptional.
