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Vol. 81/No. 16 April 24 2017
Cuba Sends Doctors to Aid Peru Flood Victims
BY RÓGER CALERO
Now for sure! The Cuban doctors have arrived. Let everyone know,”
Enmanuel Vigil Fonseca overheard one of the victims of catastrophic
floods in Peru say, when he arrived as part of a 23-member brigade of
Cuban internationalist doctors in the city of Piura, 620 miles north of
the country’s capital. “Then, as if by magic, a line that seemed endless
was formed.”
The doctors and specialists are members of the Henry Reeve International
Contingent, created in 2005 by late President Fidel Castro to offer aid
after disasters and during serious epidemics around the world. Since it
was created brigades of the contingent have been deployed 22 times to 20
countries — including twice to Haiti and Chile, and to West Africa to
fight the Ebola epidemic — providing medical assistance to some 3.5
million people.
Cuba’s “army of white coats,” as its internationalist doctors have
become known around the world, have won a reputation for their deep
sense of solidarity that flows from the moral values promoted by Cuban
workers and farmers through their socialist revolution.
The doctors and epidemiologists set up a field camp they brought from
Cuba as soon as they arrived in Piura April 1 and began treating
patients. They came with backpacks full of medicine and enough material
— 4.2 tons — to treat 20,000 people in a month, along with 6 million
tablets to purify 80 million liters of water.
Since the beginning of the year Peru has been battered by torrential
rains caused by the El Niño weather pattern. But the flash floods and
landslides that have left more than 94 dead, an estimated 700,000
persons homeless, and led to a major risk of epidemic outbreaks, are not
caused by the natural disaster. They stem from the lack of adequate
housing, basic infrastructure, and medical care for working people.
“Little by little we’re beginning to win the fight against diseases.
We’re ready for battle, our morale is high and we’re at full throttle,”
said Vigil Fonseca in a message published in the Cuban press.
This is not the first time the revolutionary government of Cuba has sent
volunteer doctors and other medical aid to Peru as an elementary act of
working-class internationalism, without regard to the political
character of the existing Peruvian governments.
In 1970, following a devastating earthquake on the Peruvian coast, Cuba
sent a medical brigade, and 100,000 volunteers, including President
Fidel Castro, donated blood. Again in 2007, Cuban doctors were
dispatched to Peru following another earthquake.
Related articles:
Chicago event raises funds for May Day brigade to Cuba
US, Canadian socialists, Cuban youth discuss US class struggle
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