The Humanistic Solidarity Association (Saint Lucia - Cuba) announced in a statement its support for the international campaign to propose the Cuban Medical Brigade Henry Reeve for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the declaration the Association expresses its wish to associate itself with the excellent idea of the condecoration of the Cuban Medical Brigade - Henry Reeve, with the Nobel Peace Prize award. The Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, a unique Cuban initiative to assist humanity around the world with quality healthcare and associated medical interventions, has proven repeatedly, for several decades, that quality healthcare can be finally and permanently established internationally, as an inalienable human right. Further, considering that the Brigade has been made available to mankind on an essentially gratis basis, by a small Caribbean nation of very limited financial resources--a situation exacerbated by a brutal United States economic and trade embargo imposed upon Cuba for six decades.
Notwithstanding the many challenges of the infamous embargo, Cuba has done excellent medical work through no less than 30 countries, saving millions of lives in the process. It is even more evident that wealthy nations of the international community can easily adopt and embrace a new moral code, that makes healthcare a universally established human right. The Henry Reeve contingent stands firmly in the minds of millions of citizens and institutions throughout the world, as an entity worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize accolade. On this basis, and in view of the excellent humanitarian contributions of this unique Cuban gift to humanity worldwide, the Humanistic Solidarity Association (Saint Lucia - Cuba) takes great pride in supporting and associating itself with this magnanimous international initiative.
In this way, the proposal to give the Nobel Peace Prize to the Cuban Medical Brigade continues growing. The initiative to award them the Nobel Peace Prize arose from a group of French organizations that seek to recognize the unique contribution of these brigades in situations of natural disasters and epidemics. Today the initiative is backed by organizations from different continents, which contrasts with the position of the United States Government, which has found no other pretext to question Cuba than to defame its international medical collaboration.
The Brigade carries symbolically the name of a United States soldier who fought for Cuba's independence in the 19th century. The Henry Reeve Brigade was created in 2005 as an International Brigade of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics. The objective has been, not only to support a specific nation, but to cooperate immediately, with its specially trained personnel, in any country that suffers a catastrophe, especially those that face major scourges from hurricanes, floods or other natural phenomena of that severity and also of epidemics that constitute social disasters. His assistance was offered by the Government of Cuba to United States during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, although the latter rejected it. The first mission of the Brigade was in Pakistan assisting the earthquake victims in 2005. Since then they have been in more than sixty countries hit by earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and epidemics. At the moment they are in 24 countries supporting the fight against Covid.
The Humanistic Solidarity Association (Saint Lucia - Cuba) represents the best values of friendship and solidarity that unite the peoples of both countries. On March 27, a Henry Reeve Brigade, made up of 113 members, arrived in Saint Lucia and since then its members have been actively working in all the health centers on the island, assisting un the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.
