{"id":2469,"date":"2020-07-26T14:50:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T14:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=2469"},"modified":"2020-07-27T14:52:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T14:52:51","slug":"cuba-from-the-moncada-to-the-front-lines-of-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuba-from-the-moncada-to-the-front-lines-of-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba: From the Moncada to the Front Lines of the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Alicia Jrapko<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today Cuba celebrates the 67th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de C\u00e9spedes barracks that mark the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. From this beginning, Cuba\u2019s altruistic view of making the world safer and healthier began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has developed into a society that gives everything it has without expecting credit. There are hundreds of examples of this like what took place in 1986, after the nuclear catastrophe of Chernobyl, when blockaded Cuba took in over 20,000 young cancer victims and their family members from 1989 to 2011 providing medical care, schooling, clothing, food, accommodation, playgrounds \u2013 all free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another story worth remembering is one of forgiveness in 2007 when Mario Ter\u00e1n, the Bolivian sergeant who murdered Che Guevara on October 9, 1967, was operated on for free by Cuban doctors who restored his vision in a hospital donated by the Cuban government to Bolivia and inaugurated by President Evo Morales in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now Cuba is on the world stage in the midst of this dangerous global Pandemic and Cuba is continuing to save lives, while the US government and its media instead of being constructive in the battle have intensified the campaign to discredit Cuba\u2019s collaboration. The misinformation is not surprising from a country whose president\u2019s main vocation is preaching an endless stream of lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Trump\u2019s faithful followers must be starting to see that there is a contradiction in how the richest country in the world has not been able to put any brake on the virus, is accumulating the highest number of infections and deaths, with no end in sight, while attacking Cuba, a nation that not only has been able to control the pandemic but has extended their full solidarity to other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the Trump administration puts priority on discrediting Cuba\u2019s international missions abroad that save lives instead of focusing on the social and human cost in the US is mindboggling and criminal. Trump, his anti-Cuba friends in Florida, and the mainstream media are mixing up a concoction of ignorance with malicious intention, never mentioning that Cuba has flattened the curve of the virus and has had only one death in three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the empty words we hear about the Cuban Medical Brigades going to other countries being forced labor is not only without proof but fails to explain why there are many more medical professionals volunteer to go than openings. Furthermore, the White House, the State Department, and the media fail to mention one word about the 60-year-old US blockade and its impact against the island that causes unnecessary suffering for the Cuban people. As we have become accustomed, the Trump Administration likes to throw things at the wall to see what sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, an organization with a long history of parroting the official line of the US,  jumped on the bandwagon with a twit, \u201cCuban doctors deployed abroad offer valuable service but at the expense of their freedoms\u201d. <\/em>At least Mr. Roth admitted that Cuban doctors offered valuable services but Roth offered no proof about what he meant. He continues, \u201cThey can be disciplined for being friends w\/ people who hold hostile or contrary views to the Cuban revolution and face prosecution if they \u201cabandon\u201d their jobs.<\/em> This is the Executive Director of an international so-called human rights organization talking with no examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuba with a little more than 11 million people has more than 95,000 doctors, 9 for every 1,000 inhabitants, and more than 85,000 nurses that are part of the 492,000 Cuban health professionals according to the latest Statistical Yearbook at the beginning of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the first brigade of Cuba health professionals to provide services abroad was in Algeria in 1963. Since then, more than 400,000 professionals have served in 164 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and even Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These services are popularly known as \u201cmedical missions,\u201d include sending health professionals to countries that officially request them from the Cuban government. And those who go do so voluntarily because they are part of a society that puts human lives at the center. They leave their families behind for a just cause but they also know that the Cuban government will take care of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuba is so respected around the world that recently eight Cuban Scientists were chosen as Advisors for the World Struggle against COVID-19 as part of an Inter-Academy Panel (IAP). In 2000, the IAP founded the Inter-Academy Council (IAC) and the Inter-Academy Medical Panel (IAMP).  Currently, membership includes 140 national and regional Academies of Science, including all branches of science, engineering, and medicine from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the slander, Cuba continues to extend its solidarity with great pride. Currently, there are three thousand members of the Henry Reeve medical brigades (designed to fight pandemics and natural disasters) who are on the front lines of the pandemic in 37 countries with 43 brigades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the attacks never quit, on May 8, 2020, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) added another $2 million to undermine the work of the brigades and a month later, head Cuba hater Marco Rubio joined other Republican Senators and presented a bill to \u201cpunish\u201d countries that sign agreements with the Cuban government to receive this support. Rubio\u2019s credibility has been suspect ever since he was caught in his own lies by claiming his parents \u2018came to America following Fidel Castro\u2019s takeover\u2019 of Cuba when in fact they came to the US in 1956, three years before the revolution during the repression of the US-backed Bautista regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One would think that government officials in Florida like Rubio would be focused on containing COVID-19 in their state that has become an epicenter of infection rates and deaths instead of being fixated on tarnishing the success that Cuba is having in beating back the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the medical personnel are now returning to Cuba from their missions and have been telling their experiences in their own words to the people through video conferencing, welcomed by President Miguel Diaz Canel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Edelsy Delgado, an Intensive Care specialist from the Gustavo Alderegu\u00eda Hospital in Cienfuegos, kept a journal during the three months he spent in Andorra. He said upon his return \u201cBelieve me, we represented Cuba at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leidisbet Lopez Cantero, a nurse from Camaguey, was the flag-bearer who couldn\u2019t hold back her tears when she got off the airplane that brought her to Havana and saw her mother and son speaking of her in the welcoming video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Michael Cabrera Laza, head of the group of five distinguished consultants in Nicaragua, was deeply moved as he spoke of traveling through all 17 regions of Nicaragua, and finding in absolutely all of them the marks left by some Cuban doctor or teacher or the presence of some community leader trained in Cuba. \u201cAnd in every action that we carried out, Fidel was there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurses Francisco Gonzalez Prada of Sancti Spiritus, Liliana Martinez of Holguin, and Aldo Moreira of Camaguey, who were all part of the Antigua and Barbuda brigade testified about their own feelings when they saw the positive changes in how their patients felt when they found out they were being cared for by Cubans. \u201cI didn\u2019t make a mistake; I am right where I should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuba is right where they should be without hesitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alicia Jrapko is one of the co-chairs of the US Nobel Peace Prize for Cuban Doctors and a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba NNOC. To endorse the campaign go to\u00a0https:\/\/www.cubanobel.org\/nobelcuba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Resumen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alicia Jrapko Today Cuba celebrates the 67th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de C\u00e9spedes barracks that mark the beginning of […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":2470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2514,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/moncadas-significance-in-cuban-revolutionary-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":0},"title":"Moncada\u2019s Significance in Cuban Revolutionary History","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ramona Wadi The ashes of former Cuban President Fidel Castro are driven past the Moncada Army Barracks, where Castro led a failed assault in 1953 that sparked the movement that eventually toppled the U.S.-backed government of dictator Fulgencio Batista, in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, December 3, 2016. REUTERS\/Ivan Alvarado\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moncada-Fidel-930x520-1.jpg?fit=930%2C520&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moncada-Fidel-930x520-1.jpg?fit=930%2C520&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moncada-Fidel-930x520-1.jpg?fit=930%2C520&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Moncada-Fidel-930x520-1.jpg?fit=930%2C520&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6865,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/the-ongoing-infowar-against-cuba-from-the-moncada-assault-to-the-embargo\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":1},"title":"The Ongoing Infowar Against Cuba: From the Moncada Assault to the Embargo","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cuba has a harsh and long history from the days of the Spanish colonisation, the killings of indigenous people, slavery, etc. that finally took a major turn for socialist gains in the mid-20th century. Cubans fought two wars to become independent from Spain in the 19th century. Those wars were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/havana-2-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/havana-2-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/havana-2-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/havana-2-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/havana-2-2.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8150,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/freedom-archives-on-the-70th-anniversary-of-the-attack-on-the-moncada\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":2},"title":"Freedom Archives on the 70th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It happened 70 years ago on July 26, 1953\u2014the attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago, Cuba. At the time, it may not have seemed of great historical import, but in the light of hindsight, it sparked the process that led to the Cuban Revolution\u2014and that changed the world!","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/july-26-flag.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2546,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/the-moncada-illuminates-cubas-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":3},"title":"The Moncada illuminates Cuba\u2019s future","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired by our heritage, we celebrate the 67th anniversary of the Moncada assault, in a year of trials and tension, with strength and renewed energy, and with the precaution required by the current health situation On the 67th anniversary of the Moncada assault, the Cuban Revolution is full of strength\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cuba"","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/moncada.jpg?fit=700%2C285&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/moncada.jpg?fit=700%2C285&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/moncada.jpg?fit=700%2C285&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/moncada.jpg?fit=700%2C285&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2457,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/anniversary-of-cubas-national-rebellion-day-an-opportunity-for-reflection-on-two-close-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":4},"title":"Anniversary of Cuba\u2019s National Rebellion Day \u2013 an opportunity for Reflection on two close Friends.","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"July 26 marks the anniversary of an important event in the revolutionary history of Cuba. On that day in 1953, a group of under 150 rebels led by Fidel Castro launched an attack on the Moncada garrison in Santiago de Cuba that is remembered today as National Day of Rebellion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cuba"","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/f0174561.jpg?fit=700%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/f0174561.jpg?fit=700%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/f0174561.jpg?fit=700%2C664&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/f0174561.jpg?fit=700%2C664&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2443,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/another-moncada-everyday-urgent-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":2469,"position":5},"title":"Another Moncada, everyday, urgent, necessary","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There are plenty of mercenary rats. Unhappy, they cannot stand the nine o'clock applause for our doctors; they do not know what kindness means; they ignore our daring; they cannot understand our resolve. Poor them, they dream of battles erupting, and do not see the many battles underway, the thousands\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cuba"","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuartel-moncada.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuartel-moncada.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuartel-moncada.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuartel-moncada.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuartel-moncada.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xdTY-DP","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/cuban-street-1.jpeg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}