Sierra Leone Telegraph: 5 August 2020:
Yesterday, sixteen Cuban medical doctors and nurses, who are in Sierra Leone to help the country’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic, met with President Dr Julius Maada Bio at State House.
Presenting the Cuban doctors to the President, Minister of Health and Sanitation – Alpha Tejan Wurie, said that the visit is a manifestation of the cordial relationship that exists between the people and governments of Sierra Leone and Cuba.
Head of the Cuban Medical Brigade, Bernardo Quintero, thanked the President and people of Sierra Leone for receiving them into the country. He said that they are a group of specialists working with the Sierra Leonean medical team to achieve the government’s objective of fighting COVID-19.
Cuban Charge’d’ affairs in Sierra Leone, Ambassador Felix Raul Rojas Cruz, recalled that Cuban medical teams were in Sierra Leone during the Ebola and Mudslide disaster, and are again in the country to help fight COVID-19.
Speaking on the historic relationship between the two countries, Ambassador Cruz also noted that the Cuban medical team would contribute once again to the wellbeing of the people of Sierra Leone.
President Bio thanked the Government and people of the Republic of Cuba for answering to the call of the Government of Sierra Leone by providing 16 medical personnel to support the country in the fight against the COVID-19. He said that the support provided by Cuba clearly demonstrates their commitment in solidifying the long-standing bilateral relations between the two countries.
He also assured of government’s commitment to the common objective of both countries, which includes the principle of building a just, peaceful and stable world through cooperation and coordination on both bilateral and multilateral fronts.
“The Government and the people of Sierra Leone further appreciate the Government of the Republic of Cuba’s support in the medical sector in the country, by continuously awarding scholarships over the years to students to train in the various medical fields. This has greatly contributed in boosting the healthcare system in the country,” he said.
We are thrilled as a people for this kind gesture from the people of Cuba. Castro has shown real leadership qualities over the years through his revolutionary leadership for his people. Sierra Leone might copy the same.
I’m delighted to see 16 Cuban doctors to help in the fight against Covid-19. Cuban doctors are well trained and dedicated to their work. This was a wise move from Government.
The Cuban government under the former revolutionary leader, Fidel Castor who overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the 1959 revolution showed that sometimes it is not the size that matters, it is what you can do with it tbat counts. Cuba before the 1959 revolution, was a play ground for rich American tourists that turned the Island nation to a gaint hub of vegas stlye casinos, and all the ills that comes with it. Witb the active participation of President Batista, and his notorious presidential guards that kill ordinary Cuban citizens that dared raise their voice against the injustices they suffered from the hands of the out of control security forces, and just want to live a normal life.
Cuba before the 1959 revolution was a mirror image of today’s Sierra Leone in 2020. You really can’t make it up. You have security officers that are out of control, accountable to nobody, but themselves. Drug trafficking, prostitution was the cuba of 1959. Despite coming under huge pressure from its gaint neighbour the USA, Castro and his newly installed revolutionary government, had to fight a full frontal assault in 1962, when a CIA sponsored counter revolution was launched by Cuban exiles from Florida, in the notorious Bay of pigs faisco Which almost brought the US and USSR to all out nuclear war – the closest the world has ever been. After that, despite the economic embargo imposed by the USA to this day, Castro managed to survive.
And today Cuba has the greatest export in the form of medical doctors, that no other country in the world can match. Russia is the only country that comes close. So if you have a determined leader, you can develop your country. And that was made possible despite the economic sanctions Cuba had to endure since the 1960s. I only hope these doctors can help teach one or two things to our corrupt leaders,that it is not the size of your country that matters, its leaders that have their country at heart, by marshalling its people and showing the way how to develop your country. Right now our country is suffering from the draught of good leadership. Maybe the Cuban doctors can take time out of their schedule in treating Covid19 patients, and scan the brains of some of our corrupt politicians. And answer the nagging questions every Sierra Leonean wants answered: WHY DO WE PUT UP WITH CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN OUR MIDST? It will be highly appreciated if they can solve that mystery for Sierra Leoneans. May God bless the Republic of Sierra Leone.