Cuba Reacts to Haiti Earthquake
January 14, 2010
By Circles Robinson


HAVANA TIMES, Jan. 13 — Cuban President Raul Castro sent his condolences to Haiti’s President Rene Preval after a major 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday caused devastation and widespread loss of lives in Port au Prince. Castro promised the “unselfish” help of the Cuban people in these difficult moments.

Cuban families back home were relieved to learn that all the 152 Cuban medical and education personnel working in the Haitian capital were reported to be in good health. Two suffered minor injuries during the quake on late Tuesday afternoon.

The island’s media reported that “The Cuban medical brigade providing services in Port-au-Prince has already established a new hospital camp next to the one that was brought down by the earthquake.”

By Wednesday morning, “more than 800 patients had already been provided medical care including some operations.”

The TV news reported that an additional medical brigade from Cuba will arrive soon in Haiti, equipped with the medicines, clothes, food, saline solution and plasma bags needed for such emergency situations.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Wednesday helping Haiti was a priority for Cuba “following a devastating earthquake that caused huge human and material loss in that country.”

http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=18130

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Members of the Henry Reeve Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics are in some Haitian localities to take care of the victims of the earthquake that took place on Tuesday.

The medical brigade, which has experience in China, Pakistan, Guatemala, Indonesia and Bolivia, joined the rest of the health staff that was located there, which is helping citizens since the beginning of the tragedy.

Cuban authorities sent medicines, saline solutions and blood serum, food and provisions as part of the solidarity aid.

More than one thousand patients were seen and 19 operations were carried out up until Wednesday afternoon, reported Cuban Television.

It also informed that Joel Melo, who works in the School of Accounting and Finances at Havana University and was getting his master's degree there, is reported as seriously ill and Cuban doctors are taking care of him.

The 152 Cuban collaborators based in Puerto Principe, capital of Haiti, are in good conditions and only two of them suffered minor injuries.

Adalberto Bravo, Head of Education brigade, suffered a dislocation on his right knee and Alina Almeida, also from the same contingent, had a minor injury on her right leg.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez told Cuban Television that Cuba has 403 collaborators in that island and 344 of them are part of the Health sector.

Rodriguez informed that a second field hospital will be opened soon in Puerto Principe and probably a third too.


http://www.invasor.cu/index.php/es/component/content/article/28--cuba/3096-henry-reeve-cuban-medical-brigade-in-haiti [/quote]

Reflections of Fidel
The lesson of Haiti

TWO days ago, at almost six o’clock in the evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical location, night had already fallen in Haiti, television stations began to broadcast the news that a violent earthquake – measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale – had severely struck Port-au-Prince. The seismic phenomenon originated from a tectonic fault located in the sea just 15 kilometers from the Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population inhabit fragile homes built of adobe and mud.

The news continued almost without interruption for hours. There was no footage, but it was confirmed that many public buildings, hospitals, schools and more solidly-constructed facilities were reported collapsed. I have read that an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the energy released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.

Tragic descriptions were transmitted. Wounded people in the streets were crying out for medical help, surrounded by ruins under which their relatives were buried. No one, however, was able to broadcast a single image for several hours.

The news took all of us by surprise. Many of us have frequently heard about hurricanes and severe flooding in Haiti, but were not aware of the fact that this neighboring country ran the risk of a massive earthquake. It has come to light on this occasion that 200 years ago, a massive earthquake similarly affected this city, which would have been the home of just a few thousand inhabitants at that time.

At midnight, there was still no mention of an approximate figure in terms of victims. High-ranking United Nations officials and several heads of government discussed the moving events and announced that they would send emergency brigades to help. Given that MINUSTAH (United Stabilization Mission in Haiti) troops are deployed there – UN forces from various countries – some defense ministers were talking about possible casualties among their personnel.

It was only yesterday, Wednesday morning, when the sad news began to arrive of enormous human losses among the population, and even institutions such as the United Nations mentioned that some of their buildings in that country had collapsed, a word that does not say anything in itself but could mean a lot.

For hours, increasingly more traumatic news continued to arrive about the situation in this sister nation. Figures related to the number of fatal victims were discussed, which fluctuated, according to various versions, between 30,000 and 100,000. The images are devastating; it is evident that the catastrophic event has been given widespread coverage around the world, and many governments, sincerely moved by the disaster, are making efforts to cooperate according to their resources.

The tragedy has genuinely moved a significant number of people, particularly those in which that quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have stopped to consider why Haiti is such a poor country. Why does almost 50% of its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation and this enormous suffering as well?

The most curious aspect of this story is that no one has said a single word to recall the fact that Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first great social revolution in our hemisphere. Pages of insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon’s most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military interventions and the extraction of its natural resources.

This historic oversight would not be so serious if it were not for the real fact that Haiti constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world where the exploitation and pillage of the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitants prevails.

Billions of people in Latin American, Africa and Asia are suffering similar shortages although perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of Haiti.

Situations like that of that country should not exist in any part of the planet, where tens of thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or worse conditions, by virtue of an unjust international economic and political order imposed on the world. The world population is not only threatened by natural disasters such as that of Haiti, which is a just a pallid shadow of what could take place in the planet as a result of climate change, which really was the object of ridicule, derision, and deception in Copenhagen.

It is only just to say to all the countries and institutions that have lost citizens or personnel because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not doubt that in this case, the greatest effort will be made to save human lives and alleviate the pain of this long-suffering people. We cannot blame them for the natural phenomenon that has taken place there, even if we do not agree with the policy adopted with Haiti.

But I have to express the opinion that it is now time to look for real and lasting solutions for that sister nation.

In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba – despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.

Another significant number of young Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.

We are also cooperating with the Haitian people in other areas within our reach. However, there can be no other form of cooperation worthy of being described as such than fighting in the field of ideas and political action in order to put an end to the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of nations such as Haiti.

The head of our medical brigade reported: "The situation is difficult, but we have already started saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct message hours after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince with additional medical reinforcements.

Later that night, he reported that Cuban doctors and ELAM’s Haitian graduates were being deployed throughout the country. They had already seen more than 1,000 patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately establishing and putting into operation a hospital that had not collapsed and using field hospitals where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set up other centers for emergency care.

We feel a wholesome pride for the cooperation that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and young Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are offering our brothers and sisters in Haiti!



Fidel Castro Ruz
January 14, 2009
8:25 p.m.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2010/enero/vier15/Reflections-14enero.html

It is amazing how lucid, how human, how reasonable a person sounds when he simply tells the truth. I haven't read any piece by a US government official or adjunct that sounds even remotely comparable - they usually sound like gibberish. Fidel is a treasure...

..

Not looking to see how this can be turned to an advantage... Thanks...

Helping ourselves more like it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7483465


"They are in the hills because they are afraid of the houses falling on them.
I am so glad to see that they are getting water at least. Our troops there
must seem like Angels from heaven." OMFG the propaganda works so well... argh

I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Havana. January 18, 2010



With the Cuban doctors in Haiti: January 17
The worst tragedy is not being
able to do more
Leticia Martínez Hernández
Photos: Juvenal Balán

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti. — The little boy, with a drip attached to his hand — although at that stage it wasn’t helping him very much — couldn’t stop trembling. The fluid that perhaps in other circumstances would give him some strength was not passing through his collapsed veins. Lying on a piece of cardboard, his life was ebbing away while, at his feet, a Cuban doctor lamented not being able to do more.

"They brought this little angel in this morning. He was buried under the rubble for three days. A rescue team member brought him; he has no family and he’s unlikely to survive. We’ve given him everything, we’ve cleaned him up, we’ve treated his injuries, and I don’t know what else to do to help him. This tragedy has been merciless on the children, the pain is unbearable."

The doctors are working continuously and amputations are the most frequent operations.

Aged 28, Sergio is already familiar with the face of death. These last few days have been terrible for this doctor from Santiago de Cuba who has left his country for the first time to save lives. When asked what was the worst, he fired off two aspects from his heart: the suffering of little ones and not being able to help them all. That was what Sergio Otero González said, while a woman with bruised face clung to his hand.

It is time to move away from the little boy and attend to people arriving. When he comes back, maybe this nameless innocent will have stopped breathing, and he will have to accept having done everything possible to restore life to a child born marked by tragedy.

Today, Haiti is replete with these sad stories. Hospital centers like Delma 33 (ironically called La Paiz) and La Renaissance have many horrors to recount, but the Cuban doctors there are intent on writing large the word LIFE, while news agencies are minimizing that effort or even refuting it, like the U.S. TV channel Fox News. Are we going to have to put speakers on the moon so that people know that Haiti has known Cuban doctors for many years before the earthquake struck?

RENAISSANCE IN HAITI

Paradoxes have taken hold of Haiti; with every glance I discover a contrast, another one…. I’d thought that the contradiction between the happy faces looking out from advertisement boards and the crumpled faces of those passing below them was the greatest irony, but I was wrong. Finding the words ‘Peace’ and ‘Renaissance’ on the façades of the most dismal hospitals that I have seen in my life, exceeded any incongruence… So I decided to find the answer in the fluttering of my country’s flag over their doorways.

AN UNBEARABLE STENCH EMERGES FROM THE RUBBLE WHILE PEOPLE WANDER THE STREETS

It would seem that the Haitians are coming to the hospitals where the Cubans are working to find peace. They arrive in an endless stream; everyone wants to be seen immediately, the intolerable pain of their bodies is mixed with a rooted lack of affection, which seems to be instantly cured when one of our doctors gently caresses them. Entire families are moving into the hospital grounds. They have set up their shelters, placed the sick person in the middle, piled up the few possessions left to them and the family, when there still is one, leaves to seek help. Others transport their injured on pieces of hardboard, boards, mattresses… until they virtually corner a doctor.

An unbearable stench emerges from the rubble, as people wander the streets.

There, among the many, I found the Doctor Madelaine in La Rennaissance hospital center. Reaching her was a balancing act. One foot first, then the other… stop to recover my balance: beneath me various Haitians writhing in agony, just to have touched them would have been unpardonable. However, the odyssey didn’t end there. Now I had to convince her to recount her experiences. This 32-year-old woman from Granma province is an expert in her work, but shakes when faced with a cassette recorder.

"This cannot be compared to anything that I have ever seen. When I arrived, I was frightened but had no time to allow that fear to grow. I still haven’t forgotten the face of a little two-year-old who they pulled out of the rubble and who arrived in agony. They are bringing lots of people here, but when it’s a child, your heart is wrung even more."

Don’t you despair when you’re being called from all sides and at all times to help people?

"They are desperate, what they have experienced is unthinkable. But we’ve learned to stay calm and treat them with delicacy even though we’re stressed. If you despair you’re not helping anyone and wind up being useless."

Surgeon Abrahana del Pilar Cisneros Depestre emerges from the improvised operating room with a similar equanimity. From inside, covered by sheets, a terrifying sound can be heard. "We’re amputating a leg," she says and invites me in. But my strength doesn’t stretch that far, so I decide to wait for her outside to talk. The only thing that I know about her is that she ended her vacation early to return to Haiti and help.
"Everything is so sad and desolate. The injuries are extremely grave. The most frequent are traumatalogies; many people come in virtually self-amputated, with their limbs almost torn off, with burns incompatible with life, like those of that girl who is looking after a neighbor right now because her mom died and no other family member has been found."

With the passing of days, the possibilities of salvation are minimal for those recently found, says this doctor, who has already lost count of the people who have passed through her hands. "On Friday (January 15) we operated on 15 people; today, Saturday, we’re on our 17th and the day’s not over, there’s one after the other. The severity of injuries is greater, the cases are extremely septic."

And the family members, doctor, what are they saying to you?

"Many people come in alone, but when their families bring them, the pain and sadness is so much that they just look at us, I think that they say it all with that, there’s no need for the word thanks."

Are you tired?

"It’s a fact that we’ve worked really hard, that the days have all merged into one another, but the desire to help is so great that we’re not allowing ourselves to feel tired; on the contrary, maybe we could manage to do more."

Injured people are constantly arriving. It is heartrending to see the large numbers of children.

One might suspect that so much energy and desire to act are only happening here in La Renaissance. However, at the other extreme of the city, history is repeating itself.

PEACE IN DELMA 33?

In La Paiz University Hospital, known as Delma 33, other doctors confirm the words of Abrahana, Sergio and Madelaine. Another Cuba flag is waving there, and gives entry to an even more shocking scenario. Almost all the injured are to be found outside the hospital. The groans touch one’s heart, the tremendous wounds make you turn your face away, the desolation is pitiful, the looks seeking compassion pierce you to the bone. Everything would seem to ask: will such misfortune ever end?

The aftershock of the night before made them flee in terror, a juncture "utilized" by the doctors to better organize the place and assess the strength of the building.

When we arrived, the Cuban doctors were equipping new spaces, posting signs delimiting areas, disinfecting the floors, classifying the sick and admitting the gravest cases. It was surprising to see so many people helping. Chilean, Cuban, Spanish, Canadian and Mexican specialists were working shoulder to shoulder. They were all speaking one language: that of salvation. They all repeated the same phrase: teamwork.

Cuban Dr. Carlos Guillén, director of the hospital, defined it in this way: "It’s been perfect cooperation; they come to us, seek us out spontaneously for making any decision; we have a meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon with the representatives of each nation, where we define what we are needing, what the priorities are and we are sharing everything."

Rescue work continues although possibilities of survival are diminishing.

What most concerned Heriberto Pérez, a Chilean doctor, was the initial disorder, and for that reason, he defends that cohesion among everyone, no matter where they come from, because what really matters is saving lives.

Rosalía, a nun, was caressing a little girl whose leg was in danger due to gangrene. She came from Spain to join the tremendous team, which also includes the Haitian resident Asmyrrehe Dollin. For this doctor, who graduated in Cuba, helping his compatriots is the greatest thing that life has bestowed on him. So he is grateful to the island for having given him the possibility to do so. Working together with the doctors who at one point were his professors, is an immense pride for him.

It is only this closeness among the doctors that will alleviate Haiti’s pain. The injured will be back at dusk, but maybe tomorrow the groaning will be less. It will be a blessing when the placards saying "We need help," placed everywhere like shadows, begin to disappear.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2010/enero/lun18/with-the-cuban-doctors-in-haiti-ingles.html