Values such as altruism, courage, tenderness, and boundless dedication have distinguished Cuban medical collaboration for 63 years, a mission that to this day has extended its embrace of solidarity to 165 countries, with more than 600,000 healthcare workers who have saved the lives of 14 million people.
This was stated by Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández, First Deputy Minister of Public Health, during the ceremony commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the start of Cuban medical collaboration. Also present were Arelis Marrero Guerrero, Deputy Head of the Department of Social Sector Services of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health.
She noted that 18 million surgical procedures have been performed and more than five million births have been attended. "Children who came into the world thanks to Cubans and today bear the names of those professionals."
She added that they have restored or improved the vision of 3,380,000 patients, and recalled the creation of the Medical Faculty Abroad and the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), which has trained more than 87,000 professionals from 150 countries.
Cruz Hernández highlighted the work of the Henry Reeve Contingent—founded by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz in September 2005—which has carried out risky missions in 55 countries with 90 brigades. Currently, she added, "we have more than 16,000 collaborators in 50 countries around the world."
In the face of imperialist aggression, she declared: "International medical cooperation has been the target of imperialist hostility, with governments being pressured to terminate medical cooperation agreements with Cuba. Who are they condemning? They are condemning the vulnerable, depriving them of the universal right to health and life."
For her part, Dr. Gretza Sánchez Padrón, director of the Central Unit for Medical Cooperation (UCCM in Spanish), defined Cuban medical cooperation as "the noblest face of the Revolution" and "the embrace of a people small in size, but immense in values." In her emotional address, she stated: "Our doctors, nurses, technicians, and specialists have not only brought science and knowledge, they have brought sensitivity, tenderness, and comfort; they have held hands in the midst of pain, restored smiles, and accompanied births and farewells."
The director denounced the pressure from the United States to discredit this work and lamented that some countries have yielded to this pressure, closing or limiting programs that benefited vulnerable populations. On behalf of the aid workers, she reaffirmed "absolute loyalty to the Homeland, to the Revolution, and to the principles taught to us by the Commander-in-Chief," as well as support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
"To those who seek to judge us with hatred and lies," she declared, "there is the grateful memory of millions of human beings who will never forget Cuba’s act of solidarity."
The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the CTC's 85th Anniversary Commemorative Seal to the UCCM, in recognition of the trajectory and contribution of Cuban medical cooperation, which continues to bring health, hope, and life to every corner of the planet.
