*Havana.* The first contingent of Cuban doctors specializing in assisting
after natural disasters and serious epidemics headed for Haiti, following
the massive earthquake that struck the impoverished Caribbean country on
Tuesday.
The brigade was first established to offer help to the United States when
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, an
offer rejected by ex-President George W. Bush.
Since then the brigade has been on the scene after earthquakes in Pakistan
and China, the Tsunami in Indonesia and major flooding in Guatemala and
Bolivia. Cuba already had 344 doctors and other health professionals working
full time in Haiti under an agreement with the Haitian government.