Media Extols Guatemalans Recover Eyesight
"Cuando La Luz Vuelve" (When the Light Returns) is the title of an extensive article published on Sunday by the Prensa Libre daily about the modern ophthalmic center donated by Cuba to Guatemala.

Low-income people undergo surgeries free of charge in that center, says the newspaper and adds "blind people due to cataracts or granulation tissue have found, in the hands of Cuban doctors, their hope to be able to see again, at the hospital in San Cristobal Verapaz."

Prensa Libre explains this service is part of the Operation Miracle, a program started four years ago, which has expanded to several Latin American countries.

"More than 1,800 Guatemalans had been operated on by early September, and 200 more undergo surgery each week," according to the daily.

The patients remain 24 hours in hospital after the surgery and receive medical assistance and food, the newspaper said.

Influx of people is so great that they have established one day of the week for each province.

The ophthalmic center was named after Jose Joaquin Palma, the Cuban national hero and poet that wrote the Guatemalan national anthem lyrics.

"People is very grateful. A man came crying once and asked me how much he would have to pay, and I said: "we only ask for obedience to follow the recommendations and get well," Cuban doctor Eduardo Chacon told Prensa Latina.

The newspaper said: "Suddenly the sight has started to appear in the eyes of hundreds of Guatemalans, who have found in the Cuban medical surgery a hope to come out of the darkness they were plunged into."