Nobel Peace Prize for Cuban altruism

By José Reinaldo Carvalho, from Journalists for Democracy A wave of continental and global solidarity is rising in favor of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade of Cuban doctors.  

Brazil and 13 other Latin American and Caribbean countries are immersed in this campaign. On July 26th, Cuban Rebellion Day, Latin American social organizations will officially raise the flag of the Nobel Peace Prize in honor of these compassionate and humanist healthcare professionals. Globally, the campaign will kick off on August 13th, the birthday of the Revolution's historic leader, Fidel Castro.  

Composed of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals trained to confront epidemics and calamitous situations affecting the health security and lives of numerous communities, the Henry Reeve Brigade has already provided medical care to Angola, Haiti, Chile, Pakistan, Guatemala, Bolivia, Mexico, China, Peru, and other countries. The first of these humanitarian missions was in Algeria in 1963. Since then, Cuba has sent medical brigades to countries affected by natural disasters and epidemics for decades. One of the most significant events was the participation of Cuban doctors in Haiti during the cholera crisis in 2010. The fight against Ebola in Africa and blindness in Latin America and the Caribbean were also notable examples of the effectiveness of Cuban medical solidarity. 

The brigades are present in more than 60 countries. The international contingent of doctors specializing in disasters and major epidemics operates in 24 Latin American countries; 27 in sub-Saharan Africa, 2 in the Middle East, and 7 in Asia, according to the manifesto of the Network in Defense of Humanity, which organizes the campaign in Brazil. Now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, these brigades have operated in several countries, including European ones. Their presence in Italy was decisive during the most painful moment of the new coronavirus outbreak. 

Wherever it goes, the Henry Reeve Brigade receives honorable mentions from authorities, political, social, and humanitarian organizations, and media outlets, a stark contrast to what happened in Brazil, where Cuban healthcare professionals were the main contingent of the Mais Médicos program, which was deactivated during Jair Bolsonaro's far-right government.   

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade will be a recognition of altruistic and humanitarian work. The role of Cuban doctors in the world is a demonstration of internationalist solidarity, a striking feature of the political system of the largest of the Antilles, an example of the defense of human rights and international cooperation on the part of a country blockaded and struggling to offer dignified living conditions to its people. 

International support for this campaign is also a way to fight against the US blockade and the cunning activity of Donald Trump's government, which exerts undue pressure on governments of different countries to prevent them from hiring or making agreements for the participation of Cuban doctors in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The history behind the brigade's name is a symbol of solidarity and the fight for independence. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck, the Cuban government proposed sending more than 1.500 healthcare professionals to assist the United States. When the White House refused the offer, Fidel Castro named the brigade the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Serious Epidemics, in honor of a young American.  

Henry Reeve was a soldier born in Brooklyn in 1850. At the age of 19, he fought in Cuba for the cause of the island's independence and became a brigadier general in the Cuban Liberation Army, the famous Mambí army of the First War of Independence. He died in the Cuban city of Matanzas at the age of 26. 

An altruist. With his name, the Cuban socialist government multiplies and spreads acts of altruism around the world, in favor of the poor of the earth.