US doctors celebrate their graduation in Cuba

 HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 1 (ACN) The Interfaith Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)-Pastors for Peace celebrated the graduation of 11 young US doctors from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) here, bringing the total number of graduates of this scholarship program created by Fidel and Reverend Lucius Walker to 244.

The legacy of both leaders was highlighted at the ceremony, held on Wednesday at the House of Friendship, attended by the graduates and their families, professors, and representatives of institutions linked to the program.

Humanism, spirituality, social commitment, and gratitude to Cuba characterized the celebration, in which Claudia de la Cruz, executive director of IFCO, indicated that beyond an academic achievement, it is a process of transformation and commitment.

She highlighted the option of learning medicine in Cuba not for profit, "but immersed in the deeply humane Cuban society, living the revolutionary principle that medical care is a right, not a commodity," she remarked.

She also criticized the U.S. blockade on the island, denouncing that the forces harming Black, immigrant, poor, and working-class communities in her country are the same ones trying to crush the revolutionary spirit and the will of the Cuban people.

The IFCO executive director told the graduates: "You have learned that medicine practiced with revolutionary love, with deep community roots, and a commitment to justice is not only possible but essential."

Fernando Gonzalez Llort, president of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP by its Spanish acronym), emphasized that the training received at ELAM and the service the recent graduates will provide reflect the legacy of Fidel and Lucius, without whom this project would have been impossible.

ELAM has graduated more than 31,200 students from 122 countries since its creation in 1999, when its founder, Fidel, declared: "More than doctors, you will be strictic guardians of what is most precious to human beings; apostles and creators of a more humane world..."