Cuban Ambassador to Guatemala Nazario Fernández described the date as a significant event, and called to dedicate it to its leading architect, Commander-in-Chief of the Revolution Fidel Castro. “It was Fidel who, at that tragic moment in Central America, decided to send a contingent of doctors quickly to save lives after Hurricane Mitch devastated the region,” the ambassador recalled in an emotional event in the eastern department of Jutiapa.
Among those present, he mentioned Armando Rodríguez, a specialist in General Comprehensive Medicine from the Cuban province of Camagüey and a member of the first group that came to work here.
Afterward, he provided services in Venezuela, Seychelles and Brazil, and returned to Guatemala two and a half years ago.
The Cuban diplomat emphasized the love for others and the sense of dedication that all medical professionals practice every day.
Fernández stated that Cuba also benefits from the solidarity of the people of Guatemala, for whom the doctors grow with the nobility of this brotherly people, with the contact with its humble, friendly, and grateful people.
General Coordinator Mariheta Cutiño noted the collaboration’s milestones when speaking to the medical brigades in Jutiapa and Jalapa, local healthcare authorities, and Guatemalan graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
All 440 health professionals are working in 16 of 22 departments, 107 of 340 municipalities, 16 hospitals, 12 mother-child comprehensive care centers, 94 medical posts, 47 centers, 12 healthcare districts, 33 permanent care units, and four eye hospitals, Cutiño said.
“We are here, and we are currently present in 59 other States because we have been trained in the principle of solidarity, which is in our ethics and behavior,” she added.
The health official thanked Guatemala for being with Cuba for these 25 years, for allowing us to be part of their working teams and their families, and for what they have taught us, she stressed.
Cutiño reaffirmed the moral commitment to continue to provide healthcare services to the peoples of the world and, of course, the people from Guatemala.
She thanked everyone and urged them to continue to promote solidarity between Cuba and Guatemala.
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