AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE

Ronniel Montejo Aldana, a pulmonologist, described the experience in Lombardy as unforgettable.

It was very satisfying, encouraging in all ways, something that will be on our minds for a long time, stated the young doctor, who works at the Mario Muñoz Monroy Military Hospital in Matanzas.

During the welcome he received at provincial government headquarters and, especially in his neighborhood, in the Guanabana People’s Council, Montejo shared the satisfaction he feels having saved the lives of a people in need, who sought the help of Cuban doctors.

He recalled several anecdotes to illustrate the struggle against the deadly epidemic in that country, where today the people are grateful for the solidarity of a small nation like Cuba, blockaded by the United States government.

They are extremely affectionate when they talk about Cubans and our altruism, the doctor reported, emphasizing that they worked hard but always had the support and gratitude of the population.

Maikel Manuel Hernández Hernández, another doctor from Matanzas who offered his services in Italy, also received an emotional greeting organized to honor him in his hometown of Calimete.

Moved by gratitude to Cuban medicine and the moral strength of our professionals, more than a few residents of the neighborhood could not hold back the tears. Dozens extended their arms to embrace Maikel, to show their affection and respect.

The willingness to travel again to any place on the planet that needs Cuban medical collaboration was reiterated in Santa Clara by the three nurses from Villa Clara who confronted the new coronavirus in Lombardy, and were welcomed home by Yudi Rodriguez Hernandez, president of the Provincial Defense Council.

Before continuing on to their hometowns, Carlos Armando García Hernández, Carlos Caride Lam and Lázaro Osvel Guerra Gómez held a brief exchange with Party and government leaders in Villa Clara, to whom they expressed their willingness to take on any assignment for Cuba and the Revolution.

“We are at your disposal to fulfill whatever mission you assign us,” stated García, on behalf of the three, as always, reflecting the principles and values that characterize Cuban medicine.

In welcoming them, the president of the Provincial Defense Council recognized their heroism. She presented each of the nurses a statuette of the Heroic Guerrilla, describing them as worthy heirs of the legacy of Fidel and Che, two champions of the Cuban Revolution’s internationalism and solidarity.

Reciprocating the gesture, Caride thanked the people of Cuba and all his colleagues in Cuba who took care of his family and the country while he was away, emphasizing the humanist essence of the Henry Reeve Contingent, an idea of Fidel’s that in the current context has already reached 28 nations to battle the pandemic: “We bring health and life, where others bring chemical weapons and death.”

Lazaro Guerra from the town of Manicaragua said with emotion: “We will never betray the legacy of our Comandante en Jefe, creator of this army of white coats.”

June 20 is coincidentally the province of Ciego de Ávila’s Dignity Day, this year the date three courageous members of the Henry Reeve contingent who saved lives in Lombardy came home.

While the arrival was difficult for Yankiel Ramírez Portal, William Alonso Valdés and Luis Ángel Sánchez Rodríguez, given the length of the separation from their loved ones and their country, “We cannot embrace them all right now,” their arrival in Italy was even more so. This is what Yankiel spoke about with the neighbors and authorities who were waiting for him in the city of Ciego de Avila. “Take care,” he said, “Anyone who has not lived the experience, does not know the true face of the pandemic.”

And careful to modestly use “we,” he recalled how the brigade arrived at a decisive moment for Italy, when 900 cases of infection were being confirmed every day and 2,000 patients were dying. “The streets were desolate, with no one out walking. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the ambulances, the police, looking for the sick and taking them to the main hospital in Crema, where emergency services had completely collapsed, because many doctors had been infected and others had died.

“We went to do our duty and here we are, standing taller than our palms with pride. Don’t forget that our Comandante en jefe Fidel described us as the army that would go to any corner of the world to bring health and save lives, not to kill.

“It was wonderful to touch Cuban soil, safe and sound. So was the reception when we got off the plane, in Havana. The expressions of affection from the people, after three months without a single hug. Just coming and going to work, with no contact, not even with our own colleagues, to avoid violating the protocols. To arrive here and not be able to embrace you all, man, is difficult for me, but I urge you to continue with social distancing and comply with all the hygienic measures,” Yankiel concluded.

Amidst heartfelt applause, intensive care nurse Eduardo Brito Pérez arrived in his hometown of Las Tunas.

“I didn’t hesitate for a minute when they called me. From the first moment, I was ready to take on this mission,” Brito said, sharing with family members and neighbors his internationalist vocation, demonstrated before in other parts of the world, as a member of the Henry Reeve Brigade, including the African continent during the Ebola epidemic.

Las Tunas and Lombardy share a 23-year history of solidarity. In 1997, the relationship between this eastern province and the regional branch of the Italy-Cuba Friendship Association was signed. In 1998, the first volunteer work brigade from Italy arrived, and since then the Cuban people have always been able to count on their support in whatever battle we were waging.

Although everyone calls him a hero, Eduardo feels that he was only doing his duty and that there was never really any other option for him. “A man should be where he is most useful, where duty calls him. That is why I am proud to say that I returned to my country with my mission accomplished. I am very grateful for the affection shown by both peoples, but above all by my own. I am also grateful to our President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, for his concern and kind words for us.”

Tears of pride, of love, of commitment to Cuba, were shed in welcoming this humble hero. Acknowledgements from the Provincial Health Directorate, his neighborhood Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, union and workplace reflect the gratitude of a people who, for two months now, have applauded him every night and will continue to do so, for those, like him, who have responded to the call of duty within Cuba and beyond.

At 6:46 am, in front of his house in this city, a hero stepped out of a car. And after greeting neighbors and authorities who came to meet him with the coronavirus fist tap, he heard someone call him “father.”

“We receive you with all the love and gratitude of proud children,” Rafael Pérez, Party first secretary in Guantánamo, told Leonardo Fernández, the eldest of the 52 Cuban health professionals who risked their lives to save hundreds in the Italian region of Lombardy. Leonardo thanked him for the expressions of gratitude, “But the heroes,” he said, “are the people, of which we are a part, the people who are closing ranks to control the pandemic, led by an exemplary government and health system.

“In Lombardy, we did what we know how to do: deliver our humanist, revolutionary medicine,” the doctor stated. He spoke of the satisfaction of saving hundreds of lives and the smiles returned. And also of pain and sadness, “We saw Italian colleagues and nurses die, without being able to prevent it, and that is very hard.”

Intensive care physician Leonardo Fernandez, at 69 years of age, has accumulated more than 40 years of professional service, and eight internationalist missions under dangerous conditions, “But I am ready for the next battle, whenever and wherever lives must be saved.”

(Source: Granma)

Expressing gratitude for the assistance being provided by a brigade of Cuban doctors in the Italian region of Lombardy, the Italian region most affected by the new SARS COV-2 virus, the nation’s Communist Party sent a message to the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and to President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

The letter notes the great value of the brigade’s cooperation, with the Italian public health system at a time of serious national emergency.

“After years of cuts in public health allocations, our health system is today in great difficulty, despite the selflessness and relentless work of our doctors and health workers, in the trenches fighting the coronavirus today, as well.

Sent “on behalf of the Central Committee and the entire Party”, the letter offers thanks to “a small island subjected for many years to a total economic blockade by the world’s greatest power. One of the nations that is providing a great lesson in solidarity and humanity. Your doctors have cured the sick in 64 countries around the world. Thanks to the teachings of Comandante Fidel, they testify to the value and superiority of socialist society.”

The missive asks that a fraternal embrace be conveyed to the extraordinary doctors, the Communist Party, the people of Cuba, and tall those who have worked to protect the socialist society and country, against all attacks. “For 60 years you have been an example and an invaluable resource for all peoples of the world.”

In the final lines of the message, the Italian Communists insist they are more united than ever in the construction of a world of peace and social equality, and emphasize that today, thanks to Cuba, “Also in Italy it has been understood that capitalism provides what is superfluous, while socialism provides what is necessary.”

(Source: Granma)

Never mind that the 52 members of the Cuban medical team in Italy are risking their own lives to save those of citizens of a major European nation that is part of the NATO alliance. Or that Cuba, with its highly successful track record of developing antiviral drugs and providing rapid-response support for victims of epidemics and natural disasters, is a much-needed ally in the international struggle against the worst threat the world has confronted in recent history. For the Trump administration, scoring political points in Florida with crass, unwarranted attacks on Cuba’s humanitarian commitment remains a top priority.

But in this “dire moment of dread and pestilence,” as the writer Ariel Dorfman has described our current crisis, it is obvious that US political and foreign policy priorities must fundamentally change. With the survival of the world at stake, Washington’s punitive efforts to roll back the Cuban revolution have never seemed so petty, and so abjectly counterproductive to real US national security interests, as they do now. Rather than condemn Cuba’s humanitarian contributions to fighting the virus around the world, Washington should be actively supporting them. The most immediate way to do that is to suspend US sanctions that severely compromise Cuba’s efforts to safeguard its citizens at home as well as bring medical services to so many others abroad.

Like all nations, Cuba is struggling to contain the spread of the virus. The number of confirmed cases has expanded from a handful—all brought to the island by foreign tourists—identified on March 11 to 170 as of March 30. Over 1,500 people have been hospitalized as symptomatic, and close to 38,000 are being monitored by Cuban doctors in their homes. The Cuban government has closed schools and hotels as well as the country’s borders to all nonresidents, effectively bringing the tourism-driven economy to a standstill.

But unlike most nations, Cuba’s ability to confront the pandemic is hobbled by severe US sanctions that have escalated under the Trump administration. The trade embargo, almost six decades old, continues to hamper Cuba’s financial transactions and its ability to export and import needed materials. Among other punitive measures, the Trump administration has effectively penalized foreign shipping companies ferrying cargo from other countries to Cuba, impeding the flow of oil, foodstuffs, and other commerce critical to the daily needs of Cuba’s citizenry. Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, the Cuban economy was experiencing chronic shortages. There is such a lack of textiles on the island, for example, that the Cuban government has called upon its citizens to manufacture cloth face masks at home to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Given the globalized threat of the deadly pathogen, the security of the United States, and all nations, depends on international humanitarian deterrence. With millions of lives at stake, a humanitarian-based US foreign policy is the only approach that will advance the war against this existential enemy.

For those reasons, a sanctions relief movement is now underway. Last week, UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a call for the waiving of sanctions against countries such as Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela to ensure that those nations can obtain critically needed medical equipment, food, and other supplies. “In a context of global pandemic, impeding medical efforts in one country heightens the risk for all of us,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, added in a statement. “At this crucial time, both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended.”

Fearful that US sanctions could cost the lives of their relatives on the island, Cuban-Americans are urging the Trump administration to “lift the commercial and financial restrictions imposed by the U.S. on Cuba.” A Spanish-language petition spearheaded by a decorated Iraq War veteran, Carlos Lazo, and posted last week on Change.org, implores President Trump to end sanctions that impede Cuba’s ability to obtain food, medicine, and medical equipment and, instead, to “extend the hand of friendship and solidarity to the Cuban people”—at least for the duration of this calamity. As of March 30, close to 10,000 people had signed the petition.

And in Washington, a coalition of policy advocates, trade lobby associations, and human rights groups led by the Center for Democracy in the Americas has called for the suspension of sanctions, restrictions, and licensing requirements that limit remittances, impede Cuba’s ability to import commercial goods, and block or delay donations of medical equipment such as ventilators, test kits, masks, and gloves. “These unprecedented times require us to recognize our common humanity and take immediate action to limit human suffering,” says the declaration, which is signed by the Washington Office on Latin America, Engage Cuba, and the National Foreign Trade Council, among others. “Doing so will demonstrate U.S. compassion to the Cuban people.”

But sanctions relief will also demonstrate US recognition of Cuba as an invaluable ally in a worldwide struggle that supersedes ideology and is redefining the traditional meaning of national and international security. Cuba has received requests for rapid-response medical teams to fight the virus from not only Italy but also Venezuela, Nicaragua, Suriname, Jamaica, and Grenada; it has a role to play in this global battle that far exceeds its size as a Caribbean island nation. In the confrontation with the coronavirus, Cuba, unlike the United States, is heeding the admonition of UN Secretary General Guterres: “This is the time for solidarity, not exclusion.”

(Source: The Nation)

During the friendly meeting, the First Lady of Panama offered a message of solidarity on behalf of the Panamanian people and government, for the human and material losses caused by the weather phenomenon.

Mercedes López Acea expressed the gratitude of the Cuban people and government for the efforts made by Panama, and offered the distinguished visitor an update on the recovery efforts undertaken to date on the island to improve the living conditions of the affected population, and respond to economic damages.

Castillo de Varela was accompanied by the Director of Social Projection of the Office of the First Lady, Nelson Castillo, and Abel Eloy Medianero, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Panama to Cuba.
Participating on the Cuban side were the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbea

(Granma)