The executive member of that solidarity organization, in a meeting with directors of the Latin American Information Agency Prensa Latina, indicated that Cuba Cooperation France (CubaCoop) works along two main lines with the Caribbean nation: promoting cooperation through projects and promoting the search for financial support.
During his stay on the island, Quintero toured the Marianao municipality of this capital, where he visited three hospital institutions and praised the will and inventiveness of the Cuban people in overcoming the scarcity of resources and materials.
In this sense, he highlighted the work of the Emergency Department in the island’s hospitals, because unlike in his country, people are treated quickly while “in France,” he said, “many citizens die in emergency services due to a lack of doctors and nurses.” , he referred.
He also held a meeting with members of the Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and visited the Victor Hugo house, which carries out various activities dedicated to the French nation and keeps alive the historical, cultural and sentimental ties with that country.
Quintero commented that the Office of the Historian of Havana was another of the places that received him in the capital. Regarding this, he pointed out that CubaCoop is preparing a posthumous tribute to Eusebio Leal in Paris, on May 20.
“We want it to be a moment to highlight the importance of this historical figure, he affirmed. Our intention is to teach the human dimension of a man who knew how to learn and share everything he learned and above all to join the youth to work with him”, he added.
Although he had attended in other years, the headline still gets emotional when he talks about the May 1 festivities and their importance for Cuba and other nations.
He confesses that he would rather march alongside the people in the massive parade than watch it from a grandstand.
“It is interesting to share that experience with trade unionists from other countries so that the world can see that Cuba is not alone, there is an active solidarity,” he stressed.
Manuel Quintero has known the island for more than a decade, when he visited it together with the French association Cuba Linda and toured it with the eyes of a tourist. Since then he kept coming back and his love for the Caribbean nation grew to the point of asking himself on each return what more he could do for Cuba.
Remembering the beginnings of the Cuban Revolution takes him back to his adolescent years, “that a country had managed to remove the dictatorship and try to build a new nation is something incredible,” he said.
What happened in Cuba, he said, was something full of life, a light that came on and gave hope.
CubaCoop, founded in 1995, has the purpose of breaking the US blockade imposed on the Cuban people by promoting international cooperation.
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