San Salvador, June 24 (RHC)-- Communist Party leader José Ramón Balaguer met with members of Cuban brigades working in El Salvador as part of existing cooperation programs.

Balaguer is heading the official Cuban delegation to the Forum of São Paulo meeting going on in El Salvador.  During his encounter with the Cuban workers there, he was briefed on the impact of their performance in their cooperative fields, which extend to health care, education, culture and sports, among others.

The Cuban party leader held a lively exchange with Cuban surgeons, physicians and lab technicians working in El Salvador's National Ophthalmology Center, where free eye care is provided as part of the so-called Operation 20-20, an initiative first launched by presidents Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

Balaguer also spoke with Cuban teachers working in El Salvador's literacy campaign, which uses the Cuban method “Yes, I can” to teach reading and writing, and which has contributed to El Salvador  declaring 54 municipalities as free from illiteracy.