By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 29, 2002
Filed at 2:06 a.m. ET
HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- A group of 23 American students began intensive Spanish courses this week before beginning a six-year medical program on the communist island.
The group arrived Aug. 20 at the Latin American School of Medicine with more than 6,000 students from 24 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the United States.
The new students, ranging in age from 21 and 27, come from seven states -- California, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and North Carolina.
``Everybody at home believes I'm crazy to come to Cuba,'' said Myrna Morales, 27, from Brooklyn, N.Y. ``My parents think I should be buying a house and car ... but I want to study medicine.''
The students are the fourth U.S. group to arrive since last year, bringing the total number of Americans studying in the program to 60.
The first eight American medical students arrived in April 2001, after black U.S. lawmakers met with President Fidel Castro in June 2000 to discuss education of American students on the island.
Castro offered scholarships to 500 poor Americans to study in the program, which is funded and run by the Cuban government.
Cuba is proud of its medical schools and has increasingly used them as a diplomatic tool by loaning doctors and giving out scholarships to developing countries.
More than 3,000 Cuban doctors and nurses work in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, helping out in remote areas where health conditions are among the worst in the world.