ΑΡΘΡΑ
Reflections by Comrade Fidel, 23/1/2010
"WE SEND DOCTORS, NOT
SOLDIERS."
In my
Reflection of January 14, two days after the catastrophe in Haiti, which
destroyed that neighboring sister nation, I wrote:
"In the area of healthcare and others the Haitian people has
received the cooperation of Cuba, even though this is a small and
blockaded country. Approximately 400 doctors and healthcare workers are
helping the Haitian people free of charge. Our doctors are working every
day at 227 of the 237 communes of that country. On the other hand, no less
than 400 young Haitians have been graduated as medical doctors in our
country. They will now work alongside the reinforcement that traveled
there yesterday to save lives in that critical situation. Thus, up to one
thousand doctors and healthcare personnel can be mobilized without any
special effort; and most are already there willing to cooperate with any
other State that wishes to save Haitian lives and rehabilitate the
injured."
"The head
of our medical brigade has informed that 'the
situation is difficult but we are already saving lives.'"
Hour after
hour, day and night, the Cuban health professionals have started to work
nonstop in the few facilities that were able to stand, in tents, and out
in the parks or open'air spaces, since the population feared new
aftershocks.
The
situation was far more serious than was originally thought. Tens of
thousands of injured were clamoring for help in the streets of
Port'au'Prince; innumerable persons laid, dead or alive, under the
rubbled clay or adobe used in the construction of the houses
where the overwhelming majority of the population lived. Buildings, even
the most solid, collapsed. Besides, it was necessary to look for the
Haitian doctors who had graduated at the Latin American Medicine School
throughout all the destroyed neighborhoods. Many of them
were affected, either directly or indirectly, by the tragedy.
Some UN
officials were trapped in their dormitories and tens of lives were lost,
including the lives of several chiefs of MINUSTAH, a UN contingent.
The fate of hundreds of other members of its staff was unknown.
Haiti's
Presidential Palace crumbled. Many public facilities, including several
hospitals, were left in ruins.
The
catastrophe shocked the whole world, which was able to see what was
going on through the images aired by the main international TV
networks. Governments from everywhere in the planet announced they
would be sending rescue experts, food, medicines, equipment and other
resources.
In
conformity with the position publicly announced by Cuba, medical staff
from different countries -namely Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, among
others' worked very hard alongside our doctors at the facilities they
had improvised. Organizations such as PAHO and other
friendly countries like Venezuela and other nations supplied medicines
and other resources. The impeccable behavior of Cuban professionals and
their leaders was absolutely void of chauvinism and remained out of the
limelight.
Cuba,
just as it had done under similar circumstances, when Hurricane Katrina
caused huge devastation in the city of New Orleans and the lives of
thousands of American citizens were in danger, offered to send a full
medical brigade to cooperate with the people of the United States, a
country that, as is well known, has vast resources. But at that moment
what was needed were trained and well' equipped doctors to save lives.
Given New Orleans geographical location, more than one thousand doctors
of the "Henry Reeve"contingent mobilized and readied to leave for that
city at any time of the day or the night, carrying with them the
necessary medicines and equipment. It never crossed our
mind that the President of that nation would reject the offer and let a
number of Americans that could have been saved to die. The mistake made
by that government was perhaps the inability to understand that the
people of Cuba do not see in the American people an enemy; it does not
blame it for the aggressions our homeland has suffered.
Nor was
that government capable of understanding that our country does not need
to beg for favors or forgiveness of those who, for half a century now,
have been trying, to no avail, to bring us to our knees.
Our
country, also in the case of Haiti, immediately responded to the US
authorities requests to fly over the eastern part of Cuba as well as
other facilities they needed to deliver assistance, as quickly as
possible, to the American and Haitian citizens who had been affected by
the earthquake.
Such have
been the principles characterizing the ethical behavior of our people.
Together with its equanimity and firmness, these have been the
ever'present features of our foreign policy. And this is
known only too well by whoever have been our adversaries in the
international arena.
Cuba
will firmly stand by the opinion that the tragedy that has taken place
in Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, is a challenge
to the richest and more powerful countries of the world.
Haiti
is a net product of the colonial, capitalist and imperialist system
imposed on the world. Haiti's slavery and subsequent poverty were
imposed from abroad. That terrible earthquake occurred
after the Copenhagen Summit, where the most elemental rights of 192 UN
member States were trampled upon.
In the
aftermath of the tragedy, a competition has unleashed in Haiti to
hastily and illegally adopt boys and girls. UNICEF has been forced to
adopt preventive measures against the uprooting of many children, which
will deprive their close relatives from their rights.
There are
more than one hundred thousand deadly victims. A high number of
citizens have lost their arms or legs, or have suffered fractures
requiring rehabilitation that would enable them to work or manage their
own.
Eighty per
cent of the country needs to be rebuilt. Haiti requires an economy that
is developed enough to meet its needs according to its productive
capacity. The reconstruction of Europe or Japan, which was
based on the productive capacity and the technical level of the
population, was a relatively simple task as compared to the effort that
needs to be made in Haiti. There, as well as in most of Africa and
elsewhere in the Third World, it is indispensable to create the
conditions for a sustainable development. In only forty
years time, humanity will be made of more than nine billion inhabitants,
and right now is faced with the challenge of a climate change that
scientists accept as an inescapable reality.
In the
midst of the Haitian tragedy, without anybody knowing how and why,
thousands of US marines, 82nd Airborne Division troops and
other military forces have occupied Haiti. Worse still is the fact that
neither the United Nations Organization nor the US government have
offered an explanation to the world's public opinion about this
relocation of troops.
Several
governments have complained that their aircraft have not been allowed to
land in order to deliver the human and technical resources that have
been sent to Haiti.
Some
countries, for their part, have announced they would be sending an
additional number of troops and military equipment. In my view, such
events will complicate and create chaos in international cooperation,
which is already in itself complex. It is necessary to
seriously discuss this issue. The UN should be entrusted with the
leading role it deserves in these so delicate matters.
Our country
is accomplishing a strictly humanitarian mission. To the extent of its
possibilities, it will contribute the human and material resources at
its disposal. The will of our people, who takes pride in
its medical doctors and cooperation workers who provide vital services,
is huge, and will rise to the occasion.
Any
significant cooperation that is offered to our country will not be
rejected, but its acceptance will fully depend on the importance and
transcendence of the assistance that is requested from the human
resources of our homeland.
It is only
fair to state that, up until this moment, our modest aircrafts and the
important human resources that Cuba has made available to the Haitian
people have arrived at their destination without any difficulty
whatsoever.
We send
doctors, not soldiers!
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 23, 2010
5:30 p.m.
- JAN VODERADSKY, Ambassador of Slovakia
-
MANDISA DONA MARASHA, Ambassador of South
Africa
- ΙΕΡΟΘΕΟΣ
ΠΑΠΑΔΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ,
Εκπρόσωπος της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής στην Ελλάδα
- ΝΙΚΟΣ
ΧΑΡΔΑΛΙΑΣ,
Δήμαρχος Βύρωνα
- MΕHDI HONARDOOST, Αmbassador of Iran to Grecce
-
ΧΑΪΔΕΥΤΟΣ
ΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ,
Πρόεδρος της Ομοσπονδίας Ελληνικών Κοινοτήτων
Σουηδίας
- VILI
SHEFKI MINAROLLI, Αmbassador of Albania to
Greece
- ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΜΩΡΑΪΤΗΣ, Εκδότης του περιοδικού "Politistiki
Diplomatia"
-
SINE RIISAGER, The Danish Institute
-
ΓΙΑΝΝΑ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ, Πρόεδρος
Special Olympics
-
FIDEL CASTRO
- ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ, Πρόεδρος Ομοσπονδίας Γερμανικών Κοινοτήτων ' Ταμίας
ΣΑΕ
- ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ,
Αναλυτής, ΜΑ σε Διεθνείς Σχέσεις
-
ΓΙΩΡΓΟΣ ΑΜΠΑΤΖΗΣ,
Πρόξενος της Γερμανίας στην
Πάτρα
-
ΜΑΡΙΝΑ ΔΟΥΛΑΜΗ,
Επίτιμος Προξένος της Γαλλίας στην Αλεξανδρούπολη
-
EUSEBI AYENSA,
Instituto Cervantes de Atenas
-
CAPOCCI,
Προέδρος
του Ελληνο-Ιταλικού Επιμελητηρίου
-
ΜΑΡΙΛΕΝΑ ΚΟΠΠΑ, Ευρωβουλευτής ΠΑΣΟΚ
-
ΕΥΔΟΞΙΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ,
Πρόεδρος Ομοσπονδίας Ελλήνων
Βελγίου
-
ΗΡΑ ΠΑΠΑΔΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ,
Director of Cultural Affairs of the Hellenic American Union
-
VALERIY TSYBUCKΗ,
Ambassador of Ukraine to
Greece
-
HAKAN MALMQVIST, Ambassador of Sweden to Greece
- AΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣ
ΘΩΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Προέδρος HELEXPO A.E.
- To άσβεστο "ΟΧΙ" των Ελλήνων
-
Ν.Δ.: Διάσπαση ή Εσωστρέφεια;
-
ΠΟΛΥ ΒΛΑΧΟΥ,
Διευθύντρια Πολιτιστικού Οργανισμού
Ηλιούπολης
-
ΝΙΚΟΣ ΧΑΡΔΑΛΙΑΣ,
Δήμαρχος Βύρωνα
-
ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΜΟΥΡΜΟΥΡΗΣ,
Καθηγητής ΔΠΘ
