A World Health Organization official says Cuba had to cover food - TopicsExpress

A World Health Organization official says Cuba had to cover food and lodging expenses for dozens of its doctors fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone after the U.S. embargo made it impossible for the global health group to pay them. U.S. officials as high as Secretary of State John Kerry have praised the Cuban effort against Ebola. But the longstanding embargo affects virtually all dealings with Cubans, even for banks outside the U.S., because they depend on dollar transfers through U.S. institutions. Jose Luis Di Fabio, the health agencys representative for Cuba, said it had to request special licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department to transfer money to the doctors in Africa. The government-employed doctors only recently received payments dating as far back as October, he said.