Cubans quickly adapt to Venezuela's lifestyle
BY CASTO OCANDO
BY CASTO OCANDO
Since arriving in mid-2005 from Cuba, Marta H. felt very welcome in the small locality of western Venezuela where she and four other comrades were sent by the Barrio Adentro health program sponsored by the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.
Between appointments at the health center, Marta and her friends quickly learned the benefits of living in a nation with economic freedom, noting especially the culture of consumerism of Venezuelans.
''People are very open and hospitable like in Cuba,'' Marta told El Nuevo Herald during an interview in which she asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. ``I have learned many things about how people live here, and of their desire to live in freedom.''
A health professional, Marta is from the Cuban province of Matanzas.
The pressure and strict supervision that Cuban leadership exerts over the doctors, nurses and therapists sent to Venezuela from the island is constant.
Yet, far from their assigned mission when they began arriving in 2003, the main concern for many Cuban health professionals in Venezuela has become obtaining as many goods as possible, especially electronics, personal hygiene products and even canned foods that can be taken back to Cuba.
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