Cuban medical cooperation is the noblest face of the Revolution
Values such as altruism, courage, tenderness, and boundless dedication have distinguished Cuban medical collaboration for 63 years, a mission that to this day has extended its embrace of solidarity to 165 countries, with more than 600,000 healthcare workers who have saved the lives of 14 million people
Photo: ACN
Values such as altruism, courage, tenderness, and boundless dedication have distinguished Cuban medical collaboration for 63 years, a mission that to this day has extended its embrace of solidarity to 165 countries, with more than 600,000 healthcare workers who have saved the lives of 14 million people.
This was stated by Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández, First Deputy Minister of Public Health, during the ceremony commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the start of Cuban medical collaboration. Also present were Arelis Marrero Guerrero, Deputy Head of the Department of Social Sector Services of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health.
She noted that 18 million surgical procedures have been performed and more than five million births have been attended. “Children who came into the world thanks to Cubans and today bear the names of those professionals.”
She added that they have restored or improved the vision of 3,380,000 patients, and recalled the creation of the Medical Faculty Abroad and the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), which has trained more than 87,000 professionals from 150 countries.
Cruz Hernández highlighted the work of the Henry Reeve Contingent—founded by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz in September 2005—which has carried out risky missions in 55 countries with 90 brigades. Currently, she added, “we have more than 16,000 collaborators in 50 countries around the world.”
In the face of imperialist aggression, she declared: “International medical cooperation has been the target of imperialist hostility, with governments being pressured to terminate medical cooperation agreements with Cuba. Who are they condemning? They are condemning the vulnerable, depriving them of the universal right to health and life.”
Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, spoke during the UN Security Council’s open debate on the defense of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter
Photo: Cubaminrex
New York, May 26, 2026.— Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, spoke during the UN Security Council’s open debate on the defense of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, where he called for strengthening multilateralism, international law, and the Organization’s central role in preserving international peace and security.
In his remarks, he acknowledged China’s leadership in convening the debate and linked the defense of the international order to the need to address conflicts and threats affecting global stability.
In his speech, the Foreign Minister denounced U.S. policy toward Cuba, which he described as a violation of international law and a threat to regional peace. Rodríguez Parrilla rejected the indictment against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, considering it a politically motivated decision, and warned of its possible use as a pretext to justify military aggression against the island. He also noted that the energy blockade and the tightening of the embargo have serious humanitarian consequences for the Cuban population.
The head of Cuban diplomacy reiterated that Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States and reaffirmed the country’s willingness to engage in bilateral dialogue on issues of common interest, always based on respect for sovereignty and non-interference. Finally, he called on the international community, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Global South, the UN Security Council, and the UN General Assembly to act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe or military aggression against Cuba.
Remarks by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla during the Security Council’s open debate on “Upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and strengthening the UN-centered international system,” New York, May 26, 2026.
Mr. President, distinguished Permanent Representatives:
We highly value the leadership of the People’s Republic of China in the defense of international peace and security, the observance of international law; the preservation, strengthening, and appropriate reform of the United Nations, in particular the democratization, transparency, and effectiveness of the Security Council and the empowerment of the General Assembly; as well as in the construction of a multilateral international order based on sovereign equality, justice, and democracy.
Proof of this lies in the global initiatives promoted by President Xi Jinping—which we support—to address current challenges through genuine multilateral cooperation. The convening of this open debate also demonstrates this.
On September 26, 1960, at the UN General Assembly, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz stated: “Let the philosophy of plunder disappear, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared!” We vividly recall this in the year of his centennial.
Marrero Cruz: “These transformations do not constitute a deviation from the socialist project; on the contrary, they respond to the inherent logic of its development”
Statement by Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba, at the Third Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly of People’s Power in its 10th Legislature
(Shorthand Versions – Republic of Cuba)
Photo: José Manuel Correa
Comrade Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic;
Comrade Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and of the Council of State;
Commander of the Rebel Army, José Ramón Machado Ventura;
Dear Deputies;
Fellow Cubans:
As we all know, our country is facing one of its most complex moments since the Special Period. A combination of unprecedented U.S. coercive measures against Cuba has been implemented, even leading to the interruption of fuel supplies and all sources of foreign currency revenue. This has logically had a significant impact on the deterioration and instability of the energy infrastructure and, consequently, on the quality of life of millions of Cubans.
We have never denied our own errors and shortcomings; however, this set of factors has consistently influenced the effective implementation of the transformations to our Economic and Social Model, approved at the 6th Party Congress in 2011. These transformations yielded positive results until mid-2019, when the U.S. government substantially intensified its sanctions policy, which was further reinforced in early January 2025.
In this context, the Party and the Government, in the legitimate exercise of their sovereign power, have been promoting measures to reactivate the economy and correct distortions, a process that has been strengthened by the approval of the Government’s Economic and Social Program, validated by our people through popular consultation.
Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez will live on in every young person who holds a book, in every worker who builds a sugar mill, in every soldier who watches over the border…
Photo: Juvenal Balán
Artemisa, 1932. There was no luxury in his cradle. There, in the sweat of the people and the neighborhood, a young man was born whom history was waiting for. Ramiro Valdés Menéndez learned before he could even walk that the homeland is not asked for, it is built. His mother, a follower of Cespedes and Martí, placed in his hands, more than bread, an ideology.
Life made him a lineman. And from the top of the electric poles, he saw the map of injustices more clearly. He was not just any worker: he was a guardian of dignity. When the 1952 coup thundered through the Cuban night, he wasn’t in a bureaucrat’s office: he was at the sugar mill, machete slung over his shoulder and dirt caked on his shoes. But the mill wasn’t his destiny; the mountains were.
He answered Fidel’s call, just as he answered the mission entrusted to him the day the young lawyer—without having been given the address—suddenly appeared at his house to find out how many of his friends from the neighborhood he could count on to make Cuba dignified.
Like so many Artemisans who, on July 26, 1953, transformed the Moncada Barracks into the first resounding cry for freedom, he was there. It wasn’t just another assault: it was the baptism of fire for a generation that preferred prison to shame. A prisoner on the Isle of Pines, exiled in Mexico, a sailor on the Granma… the odyssey had only just begun.
In the Sierra Maestra, Commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara, whom he cared for like a brother, wanted him by his side as second-in-command of Column No. 8. And he didn’t disappoint him. There, amidst the fog and bullets, the mettle of a Commander was forged—a Commander who didn’t need rank to lead, because he led by example. When victory dawned on January 1st, 1959, Ramiro was already a legend.
But the Revolution wasn’t meant to be rested; The Central Region, State Security, the days of the Bay of Pigs invasion—each responsibility was a stepping stone in his commitment. Minister of the Interior, First Deputy Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Aide to the Commander-in-Chief, President of the Industrial Group for Electronics, Minister of Information Technology and Communications, Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister… and in every position, the same word: loyalty.
But whoever thought that his title distanced him from practical matters didn’t know Ramiro. We, journalists, witnessed, on more than one occasion, his demanding nature. Not the demanding nature of someone who intimidates, but that of someone who meticulously monitors the operation of a thermoelectric plant or the progress of a key investment project for the country’s development with the patience of a watchmaker and the discerning eye of a military man. He didn’t raise his voice; there was no need. With the wisdom of someone who knows how to teach, he scrutinized every valve, every figure, every delayed schedule.
He asked about every detail like a seasoned specialist, because he was one. And in his questions, without fanfare, lay the deepest demand: that of someone who knows that time lost on a project is time stolen from the people; because Ramiro didn’t come from the lofty position of office, but from the lofty position of knowledge and history.
There was no higher mission, however, than the one that took him to Bolivia. To search for, locate, exhume, and transfer the remains of Che Guevara and his comrades was not a bureaucratic task: it was an act of poetic justice. Ramiro went to return to history what history had stolen from him.
Founder of the Central Committee of the Party and its Political Bureau, deputy to the National Assembly, he was, above all, a man of conviction. He knew neither discouragement nor betrayal. In every battle, in every trench, he stood by Fidel and Raúl, with a fidelity that transcends time and trends.
Today, when the news of his passing hurts like the loss of a father, Ramiro Valdés Menéndez lives on in every young person who holds a book, in every worker who builds a sugar mill, in every soldier who watches over the border. His example is not a statue: it is that youth that propels the country forward today.
Cuba, 2026. The Revolution loses one of its own, but gains a legend. And legends, like Che, like Fidel, like Camilo, do not die: they multiply. Ramiro Valdés, as he told a colleague in an interview, will continue to rise strong, through his example.
