Hundreds of Cuban doctors sit with their backpacks during a speech of Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana September 4, 2005. Castro put on display some 1,500 doctors equipped with medical supplies on Sunday in hopes of persuading arch-enemy the U.S. to allow them to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina. Castro, in a televised meeting with the doctors, said the U.S. had not responded to his offer to send medical workers and 26 tonnes of supplies to the devastated U.S. Gulf Coast. (REUTERS/Claudia Daut)

Officially, the U.S. is undecided about the offer by Cuban President Fidel Castro, with whom the United States lacks full diplomatic relations. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack held open the possibility that the offer could be acted on if the need grew.

About 12,000 U.S. medical professionals have volunteered for duty in the affected areas. An appeal for help from the Department of Health and Human Services "has seen a robust response from the American medical community," McCormack said.

"In the event there are needs, we will look for every available source," he said. "We haven't ruled anyone out. This is going to be a long, long process."

Aid offers have poured in from about 90 countries.

The U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association, a pro-Cuba group based in Pittsburgh, said the United States has rejected the offer from Castro. But Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman Jose Luis Ponce said Tuesday night that Cuba has yet to receive a response.

Ponce said 1,586 Cuban doctors are "ready to go." He spoke to The Associated Press in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where Castro was attending an oil conference.

Only on rare occasions over the 46 years of Castro's rule have there been examples of U.S.-Cuban cooperation. One was the U.S. return to Cuba in 2000 of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was at the center of a custody war between his Miami relatives and his family in Cuba. The Clinton administration agreed with Castro that the boy should be returned to the island.

U.S. assistance programs for Cuba over the decades have been nonexistent except for those directed at Castro's enemies there. U.S. offers of humanitarian relief for droughts or other disasters in Cuba have been routinely rejected by Castro.

The Cuban leader went out of his way Sunday to show that his offer was serious. He summoned candidates for the proposed U.S. mission to a conference center in Havana and told them about the important work they could do if the U.S. government accepts the offer.

"You honor the medical profession," Castro told them.

"If in the end a response never arrives, or if the help isn't necessary, there will be no disappointment in our ranks," he said. "On the contrary, we will be satisfied that we have fulfilled our duty."

© 2005 Associated Press

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