The school accepts students from the United States — annually, the program receives 150 applications on average, of which about 30 enroll, and 10 travel to Cuba.
[7][8][9] In 2005, it was announced that the Francophone Caribbean School of Medical Sciences in Santiago de Cuba — a second key campus — had been incorporated into ELAM.
Initially only enrolling students from Latin America and the Caribbean, the school has become open to applicants from impoverished and/or medically underserved areas in the United States and Africa.
[13] The Latin American School of Medicine is officially recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the World Health Organization.
[14] Scholarships include full tuition, dormitory housing, three meals per day at the campus cafeteria, textbooks in Spanish for all courses, school uniform, basic toiletries, bedding, and a small monthly stipend of 100 Cuban pesos ($4).
Scholarships do not include travel or commuting expenses to and from school, though for the first three years all classes are walking distance from the dormitories[citation needed] Applications are processed through accredited Cuban diplomatic missions in the student's home country.
[9] The Cuban government stated that ELAM was conceived by President Fidel Castro[17] as part of Cuba's humanitarian and development aid response (known as the "Integral Health Plan for Central America and the Caribbean"[18]) to the devastation caused by Hurricane Georges and Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which affected several countries in Central America and the Caribbean, including Cuba.
[1] In response, The Cuban government offered 500 full medical scholarships per year for the next decade to students from four countries — the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua — seriously affected by the hurricanes.
In support of this plan, ELAM was opened in March 1999 and started its full medical program in September 1999 with approximately 1,900 student in its initial classes.
At a September 2000 speech event at Riverside Church, New York City, Castro publicly announced a further expanded offer which was reported as allowing several hundred places at ELAM for medical students from low-income communities from any part of the US.
[6][19][21][22] In 2004, the legality of the presence of US students at ELAM was threatened by tightened restrictions against travel to Cuba by US nationals under the administration of President George W. Bush.
A CBC campaign led by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Charles Rangel (D-NY) with 27 other members of Congress persuaded Secretary of State Colin Powell to exempt ELAM from the tightened restrictions.
[5] Applications from US citizens had been administered through the New York City-based Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), formerly headed by human rights activist and critic of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, the late Rev.