Panama Prez: Adieu to Students to Cuba
Panama´s President Martin Torrijos was present at the send-off of 107 young Panamanians Monday, and expressed appreciation for Cuba´s offer of such a significant number of scholarships to study medicine.

The future Havana ELAM (Latin American Medical School) students are from families of scarce resources, some from indigenous regions, who earned their free studies through good academic grades.

Torrijos said, "There are 107 exceptional people in the country who, by virtue of our excellent relations with the Cuban government and the historic fellowship between our peoples, have a door open to development."

The rest of the road is up to you, but know that Panama needs medical professionals for the half million countrymen who live in poverty that one day could have the opportunity to access medical services and receive an education, he said.

Commenting on the progress made, in this case with the help of Cuba, he particularly pointed out "the known success of Operation Miracle that has returned sight to very poor families in a short time."