In Cuba, every meeting of the country’s leadership with its health partners who have departed for other latitudes to share knowledge and cast their luck with thousands of human beings becomes a tribute to the brotherhood that has so revealed the Revolution since its birth, and that so inspired Commander-in-Chief Fidel.

This certainty explains that on Monday, at the International Health Center La Pradera, very early in the morning, the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, reflected on the value of solidarity on a planet that, after the pandemic of the new coronavirus, will not be the same again, not even like it.

To our collaborators, members of the Henry Reeve Contingent and newcomers to the Fatherland after fulfilling humanitarian missions in Venezuela, Guinea Conakry and Honduras, the Head of State said towards the end of a useful and emotional exchange:

“I was meditating here, as I listened to you, in all the contribution you have given, and I believe that COVID-19 has shown the world the necessary of solidarity, of collaboration between countries, between peoples; and hopefully that is a paradigmatic element that humanity assumes for the future, after it can calmly value, with a sense of learning and teaching, everything that has happened with this pandemic.”

Accompanied by the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz; of the public health holder, José Angel Portal Miranda, and other leaders, Díaz-Canel opened the day of the morning with very familiar questions: “How are you? Not bad? Eager to get home?” and then expressed to internationalists, “For us this meeting with you today has a particular significance.”

He commented, first of all, because the exchange took place in the midst of a day that the island has lived to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Henry Reeve Contingent. It has been days, he said, marked by deserved recognitions and recounts of what that army has meant by life.

The representative did not overlook the fact that the collaborators of these brigades “have been working in support of other countries in the confrontation with COVID-19; they have had behavior that honors those founding precepts that the Contingent had when the Commander-in-Chief conceived it.”

The other reason that gave the meeting a particular significance was, in the understanding of the Cuban President, that the protagonists have returned to the Fatherland with valuable experience acquired, “in the midst of the battle against the pandemic in other ends of the world, at a time when we are intensifying a whole group of actions to overcome this regrowthe that we have had”.

Diaz-Canel underlined the idea that, once the new outbreak has passed, the country can move on to a “coexistence, say, more normally, considering that the disease is going to be present, but that we have to move on to a gradual activation of economic and social life, and teach people to live together with responsibility”.

“Therefore, he explained, we are proposing to change, or modify, or refine some of the protocols, especially those that have to do with life, with organization, with the way we need to intensify the risk”; and then spoke about the importance of changing the way we serve the most vulnerable people in the future, and those who have been infected by COVID-19.

The dignitary referred to a group of proposals that will carry out in itself all the efforts that the Government has been making to this day, and will also include citizen, family and social responsibility, as well as the participation of the population through mass organizations. “I think with all that system,” he said, we can be in an advantageous position to continue to face the pandemic based on the experience we have gained, and the very experiences you bring.”

 

ESSENCES OF THE THREE BRIGADES

To the members of the groups that had several scenarios for the work, Díaz-Canel extended a general assessment: “I wanted to emphasize that these are three brigades that in different areas have played a fundamental role and have had a very important recognition of the authorities, of the people with which (…) Labored.

“From Guinea Conakry’s brigade, he stressed, it must be said that he did an excellent job, with important indicators in his results in the hospital where (his members) worked,” and with significant recognition from the government of that sister nation, without lacking the gratitude and admiration of the host people.

The brigade that was in Honduras, commented the Head of State, did intense work in many places in that country, “with tremendous recognition. We are aware of very exciting anecdotes about how the population also came and received the services of the brigade”, the same one that was decorated with the “Cross of the Commander” by the Honduran government.

As for the brigade that left for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Díaz-Canel recalled that this was the first to be flagged, “when we were almost starting the pandemic confrontation here in Cuba.”

It was a reinforcement brigade, which advised, which helped to order the protocols of action in Venezuela, which had an intense, organizational work in each of the localities of that sister nation, pointed out the representative, who also highlighted the gratitude of the people of Bolivar, something that President Nicolás Maduro, said Díaz-Canel, patented in every telephone conversation.

“I believe, the President said, there are three brigades who have had a meritorious job, a successful job, and we are very proud of you, to be able in the midst of situations as complex as those that are lived in the world with this pandemic, to give those results that are already recognized internationally.

“You know, he emphasized, that there are several personalities, and there are institutions that have been raising that (you) deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. And we know that, in short or not, in short all those nations in which you have left that trail of work and that footprint, have given you the greatest of the awards that is that of popular recognitions, which are much more comprehensive, much more sentimental, much more expressive and much more grateful than another kind of distinction.”

OF ANECDOTES, EMOTIONS AND FAREWELLS

In this type of encounter there is no shortage of the voices of those who lived stories of dedication and solidarity. José Ernesto Betancourt Lavastida, for example, who was at the head of the group that departed for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, told how life was imposed following biosecurity protocols to the letter. In a mission that spanned the entire country, the intensity and imbrication of professionals from both nations marked every step.

The nursing degree graduate Josefa Maritza Noriega Martínez, who was in Guinea Conakry, in intensive care rooms, spoke of brotherhood, and how a patient took her by surprise singing “Cuba, how cute Cuba is…”.

When he took the turn of Emiliano Sosa de la Cruz, a specialist in Pediatrics and who also fought arm-in-arm for life in Guinea Conakry, those present could imagine the five-story hospital where, from one side to the other, our specialists went relentlessly in search of children who were not in specific rooms, but intertpathed with their relatives.

To this man who made a “wonderful” team with colleagues from the country visited, there was no fear of dwarfing him: he had already seen them face to face with the Ebola virus; and this time, as he said, he could throw himself better to death.

From what lived in Honduras counted the bachelor’s degree in Nursing, specializing in intensive care, Julio Antonio Barrero Solano. He had already been to Pakistan and Venezuela, and now it was his turn to be the protagonist of how a maternal hospital became a place to face COVID-19.

He won’t be able to forget a patient who used to say, “July, did you arrive?” which meant that when the Cuban showed up, that is, when the caress of humanity came, the sick man was beginning to heal.

Other voices were heard. And they all had as a common factor that was love for each other. That is why President Díaz-Canel stated: “with your example, with your consecration, with dedication and with results, it has undoubtedly strengthened and also multiplied (the feeling of solidarity); and I believe that you too have taught the world the value of solidarity, when you are fighting, above all, to avoid death and to save lives.

“We are grateful to you, for you have given us the possibility of this meeting and that you have passed on your teachings to us.

“We wish you a happy return to the houses, to share with your families; and after those days pass, then join in so that we can also eliminate the new outbreak among all. All right?”

As a reminder of the moment full of humanism, each internationalist received a present offered to them by President Díaz-Canel: the health coat with the brand that distinguishes Cuba, and a postcard signed by the Head of State, as recognition for such courageous and intense dedication.