The members of the second “May Day” International Convoy – a movement comprised of solidarity supporters from Italy, France, the United States, Mexico, and Cubans residing abroad – began their itinerary, which will take them to sites of interest in the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo.
“We have come to reaffirm our commitment to the noble Cuban people, who are now under constant threat,” stated Michele Curto, President of the Italian Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with our country.
At the University of Medical Sciences in the Heroic City of Santiago de Cuba, they shared their experiences with faculty and students. “Their visit demonstrates that we are not alone in this battle and that solidarity is always capable of breaking the blockade,” stated Dr. Abel Tobías Suárez Olivares, Rector of the prestigious institution, who reminisced about his time in Turin, Italy, as part of the Cuban medical brigade that served there during the most difficult moments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
The meeting became a fraternal exchange of hugs and memories, as those who had served as translators for the Cuban doctors in the red zone came together, including soprano Ileana Núñez, who has lived in Italy for decades and acted as the liaison between Dr. Suárez Olivares and the patients.
The Convoy, from each of the participating countries, coordinated and organized a shipment of aid destined for health and education centers, containing medicines and medical equipment, school supplies, and solar panels.
“We deeply appreciate this gesture, which goes beyond the material and touches our very souls,” said Juan Carlos Vaillant Despaigne, delegate of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples in Santiago.
Donations were delivered on Thursday to the University of Medical Sciences of Santiago and the Antonio Vegues César Southern Children’s Hospital.
The visit to the Santa Ifigenia Heritage Cemetery, where they honored our National Hero José Martí, was considered essential. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Mariana Grajales Cuello—the Father and Mother of the Nation—were also honored, and special thanks were extended to Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz for forging bonds of friendship with the rest of the world.
Contact with Cuba and its People
On a Girón bus, the brigade members traveled to the municipalities of Songo-La Maya and Segundo Frente, “to get to know Cuba and its people better, those who suffer the most from the blockade,” said a Mexican man visiting the island again.
In the town of Matahambre, which was severely affected by Hurricane Melissa last October, photovoltaic solar panels were delivered to maintain the Family Doctor and Nurse Clinic. They also spent time with students and teachers at the primary school, which received teaching materials, as well as sports equipment for the junior high school.
Accompanied by his brigade colleagues, Michele Curto, also director of the BioCubaCafé joint venture, spoke with coffee growers in the area, who cultivate the aromatic bean using agroecological practices and have benefited from the new mechanisms approved to boost this traditional and exportable crop.
“There are many more of us who love and defend Cuba; you are not alone, and we will prevail,” Curto affirmed during the meeting.
At the Porfirio Valiente Polyclinic in Alto Songo, the delegation delivered donations and learned firsthand how the medical care process is carried out under the current conditions—marked by the shortages imposed by the U.S. blockade—”but which does not lack the most important thing: the powerful human capital, so professional and trained by the Revolution,” a doctor specializing in comprehensive general medicine affirmed.
In the municipality of Segundo Frente, the convoy arrived at the Emilio Bárcenas Rural Hospital, inaugurated on March 11, 1961, which serves the population of this mountainous municipality with emergency services and inpatient wards. The hospital received aid containing medications and medical supplies.
The journey concluded with a meeting with local farmers, who reported the effects of the intensified blockade on their sector and sought to acquire machinery and fertilizers.
IMAGE CREDIT: Photo: José Emilio Oliveros
[ SOURCE: GRANMA ]
