Arequipa, Peru – The kidnapping in Kenya of Cuban doctors Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodríguez Hernández up on Saturday to their sixth anniversary. To date, the Government of Cuba has maintained the informative opacity, without officially clarifying the situation of the doctors, allegedly already deceased.
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Foreign Minister of the Castro regime, spoke on the anniversary of the tragic event through his account In the social network X (Before Twitter).
“Six years ago, Cuban doctors Assel and Landy were kidnapped in Kenya, while fulfilling an internationalist mission. The efforts to clarify their situation continue, with the permanent attention and commitment of the highest level of the party and the government of Cuba,” he wrote.
On February 17 of last year, the jihadist militia that kidnapped doctors since 2019 spread a press release in the social network where he assured that an attack by American drones about the Jilib people, in Somalia, had instantly killed doctors.
The doctors arrived in Kenya In June 2018 -such as a group of more than 100 health professionals sent by the Cuban authorities to the African country in the framework of a bilateral agreement-and were abducted on April 12, 2019 in the town of Mandera, border with Somalia, by members of the Somali jihadist group al-Shabab.
Both kidnapped doctors worked under a contract signed between Nairobi and Havana in 2017, contributing to the Castro dome more than $ 3,400 per month.
In 2024, when five years of the abduction were completed, the Cuban regime also spoke about the fact, claiming that professionals were providing services outside Cuba “voluntarily.”
Then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) on the island issued an official note blaming the United States of darkness around the case of the doctors.
The kidnapping was qualified in the statement of “vile and absurd” and as “extraordinary and unprecedented fact in the long history of International Medical Cooperation of Cuba”, which has also transcended by slave practices and violations committed against exported doctors.
According to the note, despite the “multiple efforts made By the government of Cuba”, It has not been possible to obtain information or evidence to reach definitive conclusions and clarify the situation of Herrera Correa and Rodríguez Hernández, if they remain alive or his death is confirmed.
“The data obtained to date are insufficient to corroborate the truth of what happened with adherence to procedures endorsed by science and national legislation,” says the regime.
According to the statement, what has been specified is that on the night of February 15, 2024, the United States African command (Africom), which operates in Somalia, made an air attack in the area where Cuban doctors were.
Likewise, the note ensures that “given the nature of the conflict in Somalia and the impossibility of achieving confirmation”, in recent weeks the Government of Cuba has repeatedly requested, directly directly and by diplomatic notes to the United States government, precise information About the events that occurred.
Washington confirmed that an attack took place in the area where Cuban doctors were, refers to the Minrex, and also reported that their authorities had initiated an investigation.
“However, to date, the United States government has not responded with the required seriousness or urgency. It has not even provided data on the circumstances and characteristics of the operation carried out,” denounces the regime.
In that sense, the statement points out that the absence of data and prompt and adequate response from the United States government is what prevents having accurate elements to offer family members and people of the island a conclusive version about what happened.
After the kidnapping of the two doctors, the Cuban authorities referred, on several occasions, to which they negotiated their liberation, but in recent years the official allusions to the doctors had become more scarce, indication of the failure of their efforts.
