"I am a surgeon. It is very hard because the fine equipment that I need can't be made in Cuba and it has to come from America. But we can't buy it from America. We have to buy it from a country that has bought it from America and that makes the price more than we can afford. Since I work almost only with children, it is children who suffer. It seems so unfair.

"My colleague is slightly better off. He needs fibre-optical equipment and he can buy that from Japan. But that too is expensive.

"I don't want to leave Cuba. I love Cuba. But it is hard to think that if I did what I do in America then I would be very rich. Here I earn less than ordinary businessmen. I am paid a set wage by the state but someone with his own business, especially a business dealing with tourists and therefore with tourists' money, can make much, much more. Sometimes I think that is wrong, that those who have studied and have qualifications and who do something useful for society should earn so much less. It doesn't seem right, does it?"

- Doctor