{"id":4286,"date":"2021-05-20T22:21:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T22:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=4286"},"modified":"2021-05-20T22:21:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T22:21:28","slug":"chernobyl-and-the-humanism-of-the-cuban-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/chernobyl-and-the-humanism-of-the-cuban-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Chernobyl and the Humanism of the Cuban Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What occurred that day of April 26th, 1986, when No. 4 reactor exploded at the Vladimir Ilich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant \u2014 north of Ukraine, 1,5 miles away from Pripyat city, 10 miles away from Chernobyl city and from the border with Belarus\u2014, still lingers in the heart and memories of thousands of families who broke away and started to adapt themselves to a new reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarded as the worst nuclear accident ever, the Chernobyl tragedy burst in a matter of seconds and darkened the color of human, wild life; it darkened the green color of bushes, which mutated into a reddish color. Today, the city is abandoned and you can see empty streets, ghost parks, homes frozen in time still with the table served, a picture as real as disheartening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firefighting brigades that helped extinguish the fire and decontaminate the area, plus the rest of the population living on the surroundings of the nuclear power plant, started to deal with the effects caused by high levels of radioactivity in the air. Some of them even died, while others began to develop dermatological conditions and different types of cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of children from the former USSR were victims of that accident. Cuba extended its helping hand at the first plea for help made by the USSR. In this line, Cuban specialists traveled to that continent to analyze the most serious cases, which were quickly assisted at Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed Tarara City, which was transformed into a huge sanitarium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first 139 Soviet children who came to Cuba to start different treatments landed in Cuba on March 29th, 1990, with the leader of the Cuban Revolution himself, Fidel Castro Ruz, welcoming each of them at the airplane’s passenger steps. That very first group was the seed to the Cuban medical program that assisted children from Chernobyl for free for 21 years in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only seven years had passed from the beginning of that humanitarian initiative when Castro Ruz at the closing speech of the 6th International Workshop on Primary Care on November 28th, 1997, highlighted Cuba, by itself, had assisted more Chernobyl children than the rest of the countries worldwide, although the American media did not report that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNearly 15,000 children! (\u2026) Without socialism, 19,000 children and adults from three different Republics affected in that nuclear accident could not have been assisted and most of them were cared for amid the Special Period,\u201d<\/em> warned the Commander on Chief. The stats show that 26,000+ children from Russia, Belarus, Moldavia, and Ukraine were assisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Carlos Dotres, former head of Tarar\u00e1\u2019s Medical Service and Minister of Public Health afterwards, pointed in 1999 in a note in Granma newspaper: \u201cthe alteration in the health of those children were associated to the ionizing radiation as well as factors of genetic, environmental and social nature.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the specialist, the Cuban physicians and scientific community were devoted to that sensitive task. They treated children with blood diseases. Some of them needed bone marrow and kidney transplant, heart and orthopedic surgeries due to genetic and physical disorders, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over one hundred surgeries of malignant and benign tumors were practiced. Thu number of children with thyroid problems was high. \u201cSuffering from vitiligo, alopecia and psoriasis were assisted by specialists at the Placental Histotherapy Center. Thousands of children were immunized with the Cuban Hepatitis B and Anti-Meningococcal BC vaccines,\u201d<\/em> added Dotres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuba helped in the medical, dentistry, psychological, general nursing, and comprehensive rehabilitation assistance, and for the healing of those children, 15 facilities with high scientific standards backed this endeavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solidarity and humanism of the Cuban people are so valuable, almost unique in the world. Hence, it is not coincidence that the President of the Chernobyl Children Association, Irina Ivasenko, said one day to Fidel, \u201cSuch a small nation with such a big heart!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque D\u00edaz \/ CubaS\u00ed Translation Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What occurred that day of April 26th, 1986, when No. 4 reactor exploded at the Vladimir Ilich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant \u2014 north of Ukraine, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":4287,"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-4286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3568,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/the-little-known-story-of-the-chernobyl-children-cured-in-cuba\/","url_meta":{"origin":4286,"position":0},"title":"The Little Known Story of the Chernobyl Children Cured in Cuba","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While the new four part HBO documentary about the 1986 nuclear power plant meltdown in Chernobyl is being viewed by millions a related story\u00a0of human dignity and solidarity that was omitted also needs to be told. The disaster that started on April 26, 1986, at reactor No. 4 of the\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\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/children-of-chernoble.jpeg?fit=1200%2C861&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2452,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/beyond-covid-19-cholera-and-ebola-cuban-doctors-saved-tens-of-thousands-of-children-from-chernobyl\/","url_meta":{"origin":4286,"position":1},"title":"Beyond Covid-19, cholera and ebola, Cuban doctors saved tens of thousands of children from Chernobyl","author":"Editorial Team","date":"July 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Cuban doctors are famed for their heroic role fighting outbreaks internationally such as Ebola and cholera \u2014 and celebrated today for their efforts against Covid-19. However few know the story of their 21-year project saving the child victims of Chernobyl, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER UBA\u2019S Henry Reeve Medical Brigade of\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\/doctor-treats-Haitian-cholera-victims.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/doctor-treats-Haitian-cholera-victims.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/doctor-treats-Haitian-cholera-victims.jpg?fit=600%2C408&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8077,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuba-and-the-children-of-chernobyl\/","url_meta":{"origin":4286,"position":2},"title":"Cuba and the Children of Chernobyl","author":"Editorial Team","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It is a little know fact that Cuba provided medical treatment and care to more children affected by the Chernobyl disaster than any other country in the world. 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Photo Liborio Noval By way of introduction\u2026 One day in 2011, Peruvian visual artist Sonia Cunliffe visited the beach resort of Tarar\u00e1. She noticed bald children bathing on the beach. She asked who they were and they answered her: the Chernobyl children. She was shocked, but\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\/3-30-chernobyl.jpeg?fit=519%2C330&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6048,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/revolutionary-care-castros-doctors-give-hope-to-the-children-of-chernobyl\/","url_meta":{"origin":4286,"position":5},"title":"Revolutionary care: Castro’s doctors give hope to the children of Chernobyl","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Young victims continue to receive treatment in Cuba two decades after Ukrainian nuclear disaster Eleven-year-old Olga enters the beach house in flip-flops, her hair still wet from a dip in the Caribbean. \"I really like it here,\" she says. \"The food is great, the beach is awesome. 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