News Digest

Fidel Castro says Cuba would cooperate with US against Ebola

Cuba stands ready to cooperate with the United States in the battle against Ebola, former leader Fidel Castro said in an article published Saturday. Cuba has already sent 165 doctors and nurses to help fight Ebola in Sierra Leone and it plans to send 296 others soon to Liberia and Guinea. Cuban officials said on Saturday that their health ministry would try to organise more aid for the affected countries in West Africa at a meeting with Cuban allies and international health organisations on Monday. The South American county’s efforts have already brought unusual praise from US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was quoted saying that countries like Cuba had taken impressive steps to tackle Ebola.

We will gladly cooperate with American personnel in that task, and not in search for peace between the two states that have been adversaries for so many years, but in any case, for peace in the world, a goal that can and should be attempted.

Fidel Castro, writing in Communist Party daily Granma

Castro, 88, said such medical cooperation is “the greatest example of solidarity that a human being can offer.” The US has deployed hundreds of soldiers as well as health care workers to help control the disease. Washington has pledged to send up to 4,000 military personnel to the region by the end of October. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday European Union leaders should raise the amount of money pledged to fight Ebola to $1.3 bn and mobilise at least 2,000 workers to head to West Africa.