The raunchy love affair between lefty Latin and South American leaders and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues unabashedly with Iran's funding of a medical center in Bolivia, at the cost of 1.2 million dollars. 2 more hospitals have been promised.In the meantime, the female nurses were forced to wear the Islamic hijab and cover themselves from head to toe at the inauguration of the Hospital República Islámica de Irán (Islamic Republic of Iran Hospital) in El Alto on November 24, where Evo and Mahmoud attended via teleconference. Causing an uproar, the minister of Health, Ramiro Tapia, assured everyone that things would go back to normal once the hospital was officially handed over at the beginning of December. Apparently, the Red Crescent (the Islamic version of the Red Cross) is handling administrative duties, so it wasn't a question of forcing Islamic dress on the nurses, but rather the uniform of the red Crescent. At least that's what Iranian Embassy officials said. Frankly, it's the same thing. They're both Islamic attire being forced on non-Muslims, in a foreign non-Islamic country. The article on LosTiempos.com doesn't specify whether they will continue to administrate or not, but in another article a source, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, claims that wearing the hijab is a requirement (for both doctors and nurses) for being hired. The women have no choice, if they need the job. Administrative director, Pou Mount, explained that using the veil as part of the uniform was simply "a little piece of Iran in Bolivia".
Another source Semanario Verdad Latinoamericano also references the issue, but doesn't go into much detail, mentioning nothing about going back to business as usual. I'm not sure anyone knows for sure whether the forced wearing of hijab will be permanent or not. It appears to be, since being hired is predicated on accepting the rules, one of which is wearing a hijab.
I guess that's what happens when you make a deal with the devil.
H/T Fausta's Blog
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