A group of US students who will study medicine in Cuba courtesy of Fidel Castro's government have arrived at the island's Latin American School of Medicine.

To the strains of the US national anthem, the eight students stood hand-in-hand with other international students during welcoming ceremonies. They all come from low-income families and plan to return to their communities after six years of medical training.

Some Cuban-Americans have said the project is a ploy by Castro to highlight income disparities in the US and to tout Cuba's system of universal health care. Its genesis was a meeting last year between Castro and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, when Rep Bennie Thompson told Castro his district in the Mississippi Delta had a high infant-mortality rate and not enough doctors.