MEDICC Condemns Honduran Coup

June 29, 2009 – Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) joins the international community in resounding condemnation of the coup against elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya perpetrated by that country’s military forces.

As an organization dedicated to medical education and health equity, MEDICC provides support for programs led by the indigenous Garifuna graduates of Havana’s Latin American Medical School (ELAM), aimed at extending health care to all Garifuna communities, and incorporating medical specialization of these graduates under Cuban professor-physicians serving in rural Honduras. We call upon the military to respect the lives and work of these young physicians, their communities and their Cuban professors until democracy is fully restored through the unconditional return to Honduras of President Zelaya.

If you are a US citizen, we ask that you call upon President Obama and the State Department to urge their full support for the safe and unconditional return of President Zelaya to his post.  

We call upon our colleagues--physicians and health professionals the world over--to denounce this military coup, and demand the return of Honduras’ elected leaders.