On his Twitter account, the president recalled the preparation of nearly 10,000 doctors in first brigade to provide aid to the United States after Katrina hurricane devastated the southern US in August 2005.

‘The images of #Fidel creating the Army of White Coats that would leave for New Orleans are still exciting,’ the president tweeted.

Diaz-Canel recalled that ‘that mission did not take place, but paved the way to save millions of lives,’ referring to the rejection of Cuba’s proposal by then-US President George W. Bush.

This did not prevent Cuban doctors from leaving for Guatemala a few days after to provide assistance to that nation, which was affected by heavy rainfall, and then to Pakistan, hit by a 7.6 earthquake on the Richter scale.

Since then, the Henry Reeev Contingent has provided medical assistance in the fight against cholera in Haiti, the fight against Ebola in western Africa, and is currently tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. Its brigades have completed missions in over 40 countries.

For this reason, last year, European solidarity organizations launched a campaign, supported by political forces, civil servants, artists, writers and personalities from across the globe, to grant the Nobel Peace Prize to the Cuban doctors.

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