Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
The Republic of Haiti is facing a serious multidimensional crisis that has worsened social instability, poverty and structural underdevelopment resulting from centuries of colonial and neocolonial pillaging and foreign interventions.
The international community is greatly indebted to Haiti, the Caribbean nation that carried out the first independence, anti-slavery and social revolution in the continent, which has suffered the cruel and selfish reprisals of imperialist powers for more than two centuries.
Haiti needs true and sufficient assistance and cooperation for its reconstruction and progress, without foreign interference, because far from being a solution, this has been the cause of its problems.
Cuba has offered fraternal and selfless cooperation to Haiti in areas of great impact for its people, such as public health, education, agriculture, sports, energy, water resources and others that are key to the social and economic stability of the country. A total of 448 355 Haitians have learned to read and write thanks to the implementation of Cuban programs; and
1 606 youths have been trained in our universities.
Since 1998, our country has uninterruptedly maintained in Haiti a brigade made up by health professionals and technicians to assist the Haitian people. Their humanist and altruistic work has contributed to assist 38 580 215 patients; perform 774 236 surgeries; carry out 73 331 ophthalmological interventions as part of the “Operation Miracle”; assist 204 090 childbirths; apply 1 014 806 vaccines doses and save 252 433 lives. That cooperation has been maintained even during the most difficult times facing that country, including a foreign intervention in 2004; the earthquakes in 2010 and 2021; the cholera epidemics; the COVID-19 pandemic and the current juncture.
The Haitian people appreciate and recognize the humanitarian, selfless and altruistic service offered by Cuban cooperation workers amidst the difficult circumstances in which they have always had to carry out their work.
The Cuban government maintains close and permanent communication with the 53 health cooperation workers who are currently in the southern part of Haiti, where the situation is calmer, as well as with the other 7 who, together with the Cuban embassy staff, are doing well and have adopted all necessary measures to ensure their security and protection.
Through our embassy in Port-au-Prince and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is also continued communication with the Cubans residing in Haiti or who are in-transit in that country as well as their relatives, and there is a permanent follow up on the situation there.
Cuba has been exchanging with regional actors about the situation in Haiti, to whom it has reaffirmed that the Haitian people have the right to find a peaceful, sustainable and lasting solution to the challenges they face, based on the full respect for their free determination, sovereignty and independence.
The brother people of Haiti will always be able to count on Cuba’s fraternal support.
(Source: Cubaminrex)