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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Mother of dissident Cuban doctor arrives in Argentina for celebrated visit

Mother of dissident Cuban doctor arrives in Argentina for celebrated visit
The Associated Press
Published: May 26, 2008

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: The mother of a dissident Cuban doctor has been
reunited with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Argentina
after Havana agreed to let her leave the island.

The 89-year-old Hilda Morejon Serantes — the mother of renowned brain
surgeon Hilda Molina, whom Cuba has prohibited from leaving the
communist island — arrived in Buenos Aires late Saturday accompanied by
her granddaughter-in-law.

Sitting in a wheelchair and clutching a rosary, Morejon was surrounded
by family members and journalists.

"My great-grandchildren are as lovely as I imagined," she said, visibly
emotional.

She said she planned to rest and seek medical treatment for heart and
leg difficulties, and thanked the governments of Argentina and Cuba for
allowing her to travel.
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Molina is a highly regarded neurosurgeon and researcher whose son
Roberto Quinones left Cuba in 1994 along with his pregnant wife.
Quinones has lobbied the Cuban government for years to let his mother
and grandmother come to Argentina to meet his children.

Cuba refused his requests under former leader Fidel Castro, but changed
its mind after Castro was replaced earlier this year by his younger
brother, Raul.

Molina told an Argentine radio station on Friday that she is confident
she, too, will gain permission to travel.

Molina worked for Cuba's government-sponsored International Center for
Neurological Restoration until 1994, when she resigned after raising
ethical questions about embryonic stem cell research.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/25/news/Argentina-Cuba-Dissident.php

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