Al-Jazeera: "Castro offers eye care for US poor"

As you read this, remember, this is from Al-Jazeera:

Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, has offered free eye operations to impoverished Americans and asked the US government to let them travel to his country for treatment.

Castro made the offer late on Sunday as he criticised American policies toward his country during a three-hour appearance on state television and announced a protest march for Tuesday outside the American embassy in Havana.

Because travel to Cuba by most Americans is prohibited under US sanctions, Castro asked US authorities to give Americans official permission to travel to Cuba for the operations.

"We're ready to send an airplane to Florida to pick them up," Castro said. Cuba would foot the costs of flights, accommodation and the surgery, Castro said.

Cuba has all the equipment and specialised personnel considered among the best specialists in the world, he said. He asked if the US government would prohibit those people from travelling to the island and "sentence them to blindness".

I may be missing something, Fidel, but why waste all that airplane fuel? We have good eye doctors in the US--If you are worried about the poor's access to them, why don't you just send cash?

Tags: Castro, Cuba, Aljazeera, journalism