The Cuban medical brigade that participated in the battle against COVID-19 must be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Dano-Cuban Friendship Association supports the proposal to nominate Cuban doctors and nurses participating in the international missions against the COVID 19 pandemic for the Nobel Peace Prize. It would be the right choice.
Cuba has sent more than 2000 doctors and nurses to 24 countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America to assist in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is a humanitarian aid that Cuba provides in addition to the approximately 30,000 health professionals who, already before the coronavirus pandemic, were carrying out missions in some 70 countries. It is not all Cuban doctors and nurses who are trying to nominate the Nobel Peace Prize - although they deserve it. No, this is the Henry Reeve Brigade, which is just now participating in the battle against the coronavirus as it previously participated in the fight against Ebola in Africa (2014), in the relief actions after the earthquake in Haíti (2010 ) as well as, right after its creation, in cooperative operations after the earthquake in Himalayas, Pakistan, in 2005.
The Henry Reeve Brigade was created in 2005, when Cuba - at the initiative of then President Fidel Castro - offered to send 1,500 doctors to the United States. to help save human lives after Hurricane Katrina.
To this disaster relief brigade, Cuba gave the name of the American citizen Henry Reeve, who in the late 19th century went to Cuba to fight together with the Cubans in the liberation war against the then Spanish colonial power.
The US rejected Cuban aid. The earthquake in Pakistan soon followed, and the 1,500 doctors and nurses ready to cooperate were welcomed with appreciation here.
The Peace Prize is the ideal prize for Cuban doctors because international solidarity and cross-border aid to people in emergencies help prevent conflict and war.
The initiative to nominate the Brigade Henry Reeve started in the first moment from French organizations and now there is an international wave of support from individuals and organizations.
It is an extremely positive fact that popular movements and individuals are supporting this proposal. The more the better. The right to nominate corresponds to a number of groups and individuals, which appears from the website of the Nobel Prizes: (https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/)
In reality, there are many - including Danes - who have the right to nominate. These are the 179 members of the Danish Parliament, the professors of the Danish Universities and the members of the board of directors of the International League of Women for Peace and Freedom.
The Dano-Cuban Friendship Association therefore invites the Danes, who have the right to nominate candidates, to nominate the doctors and nurses who make up the Cuban Henry Reeve Brigade. The nomination process takes place between September 2020 to January 2021.
And we urge organizations and individuals who do not have the right to nominate to sign the joint appeal launched by French organizations, which can be done by sending an email to nobelpaixmedcub@gmail.com.
Approved by the national council of the Dano-Cuban Friendship Association, as of May 30, 2020.
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