Cindy Sheehan impressed by the Latin American School of Medicine

“I am impressed by the school, the quality of the students. I have never seen anything like it in the world; it doesn’t matter what part of the world we come from, or the fact that our governments don’t get along, we have the same hearts and they are filled with love.”

This is what Cindy Sheehan, U.S. pacifist and mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, wrote yesterday in the visitors’ book at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), after touring the teaching center where more than 10,000 young people from 28 countries – including 91 students from the United States – are currently being taught.

After meeting and talking to students and directors at the institution, Sheehan and the other anti-war activists accompanying her highlighted the values of this worthy humanitarian project and what it means for countries in the region.

In that respect, Ann Wright, a retired army colonel, expressed thanks for the immediate offer of aid made by the Cuban government at the time of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. “And although the Bush administration refused to accept your gesture, the U.S. people were very grateful for it,” she added.

Cindy and the group of anti-war activists have been in Cuba since last Sunday and will travel to Guantánamo today to demonstrate outside the naval base illegally located on a section of stolen national territory, calling for the closure of this prison which saw the arrival of its first prisoners on January 11 five years ago.

Translated by Granma International