Edited by Egoitz Santos
Ada Galano, Andrea Santoro, and Simone Valli participated in the European solidarity delegation of the “Our America” Convoy in Havana this past March, alongside activists against the US embargo from the US and Latin America, as well as those who traveled by boat from Mexico. In total, nearly 700 people participated.
The three share a common story: during the Covid-19 pandemic, they volunteered with medical brigades in Italy (Ada and Andrea) and participated in the “Soberana Plus-Turin” clinical trial (Simone).
Ada Galano, a Cuban resident of northern Italy, recalls the impact of seeing her compatriots, doctors from the Henry Reeve Brigade, arrive at Turin airport. “It was a very proud moment,” she says. Together with Andrea Santoro, they translated for and accompanied the doctors in the red zones of Crema and Turin, the epicenters of Covid in Italy at the time. “There I realized the profound humanity they showed to the patients,” Andrea adds. For her part, Ada, defying the restrictions, brought Creole food and even a “little Cuban rum” to the doctors, so they could feel the warmth of their homeland.
Months later, Simone Valli traveled to Havana to participate in the clinical trial of the Cuban vaccine Soberana Plus, designed as a booster dose. “A small, economically underdeveloped country, but highly developed in humanity, struggle, equality, and scientific excellence,” he emphasizes, “created a fully effective, public, and free vaccine.” The trial, called Soberana Plus-Turin, coordinated between the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (Cuba) and the Amadeo Institute of Turin, sought to certify the efficacy of the Cuban vaccine in non-Cuban populations inoculated with other international vaccines.
All three agree that participating in the “Our America” Convoy is a duty: “It is, in some way, to reciprocate the solidarity that Cuba has always shown to the entire world.” In a context of intensifying the US blockade, Ada, Andrea and Simone argue that standing with Cuba is “fighting for a model of society that puts solidarity and humanity first.”
[ SOURCE: www.cubainformacion.tv ]
