Dissident Cuban doctor reunited with family
* Doctor clashed with Castro over "medical tourism"
* Authorities denied her travel visa for years
* Says feels no bitterness toward Castros (Adds quote from news conference)
BUENOS AIRES, June 14 (Reuters) - A Cuban neurosurgeon was reunited with her family in Argentina on Sunday, 15 years after she broke ranks with former leader Fidel Castro over the healthcare system on the communist-ruled island.
Hilda Molina, 66, was given permission to leave Cuba last week after complaining publicly for years about being denied the right to travel to visit her elderly mother, son and grandchildren in Argentina.
"I regret having followed a system that promised so many things it failed to deliver and caused suffering for my family, my son and my grandsons," Molina told a news conference at her son's home in a suburb of Buenos Aires.
"I have a grief that will never heal but ... I harbor no bitterness," she added, vowing to continue her criticism of the Cuban system despite receiving the three-month travel visa. "Now I want to be a grandmother."
Molina said on Friday she believed Cuban authorities had finally agreed to give her a travel permit only because of her 90-year-old mother's deteriorating health, describing it as an "isolated gesture."
Molina, who founded Havana's prestigious International Center for Neurological Rehabilitation, was elected to the Cuban parliament in 1993.
But she fell out with Fidel Castro and quit the party in 1994 after asserting that Cuba was eroding its principle of free, quality healthcare for all by selling medical services to foreigners to meet its pressing needs for foreign currency.
Fidel Castro has said Molina was forced out of the government for seeking to take over the state-run neurology center that she once headed.
In the prologue to a book last year, he said her case provided "excellent material for imperialist blackmail against Cuba."
Molina's mother was allowed to leave Cuba last year, three months after Raul Castro took over as president, succeeding his older brother who retired because of health problems.
Molina has said she wants to live in Cuba and plans to return to the island after looking after her mother. (Reporting by Helen Popper)
* Authorities denied her travel visa for years
* Says feels no bitterness toward Castros (Adds quote from news conference)
BUENOS AIRES, June 14 (Reuters) - A Cuban neurosurgeon was reunited with her family in Argentina on Sunday, 15 years after she broke ranks with former leader Fidel Castro over the healthcare system on the communist-ruled island.
Hilda Molina, 66, was given permission to leave Cuba last week after complaining publicly for years about being denied the right to travel to visit her elderly mother, son and grandchildren in Argentina.
"I regret having followed a system that promised so many things it failed to deliver and caused suffering for my family, my son and my grandsons," Molina told a news conference at her son's home in a suburb of Buenos Aires.
"I have a grief that will never heal but ... I harbor no bitterness," she added, vowing to continue her criticism of the Cuban system despite receiving the three-month travel visa. "Now I want to be a grandmother."
Molina said on Friday she believed Cuban authorities had finally agreed to give her a travel permit only because of her 90-year-old mother's deteriorating health, describing it as an "isolated gesture."
Molina, who founded Havana's prestigious International Center for Neurological Rehabilitation, was elected to the Cuban parliament in 1993.
But she fell out with Fidel Castro and quit the party in 1994 after asserting that Cuba was eroding its principle of free, quality healthcare for all by selling medical services to foreigners to meet its pressing needs for foreign currency.
Fidel Castro has said Molina was forced out of the government for seeking to take over the state-run neurology center that she once headed.
In the prologue to a book last year, he said her case provided "excellent material for imperialist blackmail against Cuba."
Molina's mother was allowed to leave Cuba last year, three months after Raul Castro took over as president, succeeding his older brother who retired because of health problems.
Molina has said she wants to live in Cuba and plans to return to the island after looking after her mother. (Reporting by Helen Popper)
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