This provides an opportunity to recruit patients with eye troubles, mainly cataracts, who each Saturday attract dozens of people, mostly senior citizens, in various locations.

On this day, the screening is taking place in the city of Paso de los Toros, in the department of Tacuarembo, just over 260 kilometers north of the capital.

The Caribbean nation’s brigade is a key player in the Mision Milagro eye surgery operation, an initiative of the then-presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, which has helped restored vision to millions of people in Latin America and beyond since its launch in 2004.

In Uruguay, this medical cooperation with Cuba is approaching 18 years, with thousands of operations and treatments benefiting the population, including centenarian patients, the most recent of whom achieved 103, with renewed vision.

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