The origins of a different approach for carrying out LASM lay in the Libertador Municipality of Caracas , which in 2003 ( under a pro-Chávez mayor , Freddy Bernal ) set up an Institute for Endogenous Development ( IED ) , broadly intended to improve living conditions through the active participation of the local population . Following a series of discussions between the IED and local residents , a proposal was formulated to set up " Plan Barrio Adentro " using small local clinics to provide free healthcare " inside the neighborhood " where previously there was none , and to involve residents in the management of the scheme . Bernal then issued a call for doctors , but the Venezuelan Medical Federation put pressure on its members not to apply . Of the 50 Venezuelan doctors who did apply , 30 left on hearing that they would need to live in the barrios ; the remaining 20 were specialists and therefore employed in specialist centers and not required to work in the primary health care centers in the barrios . Faced with a lack of willing doctors , Bernal recalled the Cuban doctors who had provided emergency aid following the 1999 mud slides , and discussion with the Cuban Embassy in February 2003 ultimately led to a contingent of 58 Cuban doctors starting the program in April 2003 . In the interim , three Cuban physicians spent a month visiting the barrios , examining the homes and clinical spaces offered in the community . By May 2003 , another 100 Cuban doctors arrived , and were sent to other parts of Libertador and to other municipalities in and around Caracas . Besides diagnosis and treatment , including the provision of free prescription drugs , the doctors carried out a health census of the barrios , which provided a complete health survey of the Caracas barrios for the first time
1999 mud slides
Vargas tragedy
Mission Barrio Adentro