Crema (Italy) (AFP)
Nothing, neither the cool temperatures nor the language barrier will divert him from his mission: Roberto Arias Hernandez, young Cuban doctor, is part of the "army of white coats" sent from Havana to help in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic in northern Italy.
"We are simply doctors, and today we are just playing our part in combating the pandemic", smiles modestly Roberto, 28 year old intern, deployed at the Crema hospital, in the heart of Lombardy (north), epicenter of disease in the Italian peninsula.
For the young practitioner, this is the first mission abroad, alongside a contingent of fifty compatriots: 36 doctors, 15 nurses and an administrator.
Several of them have already taken part in the fight against another deadly epidemic, in West Africa this time, Ebola fever.
- Like a cosmonaut -
For Cuba, the strategy has been known since the end of the Cold War, in a country that made health and education the pillars of its "socialist revolution", and of its doctors one of its main assets on the international geopolitical scene.
Since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in central China in late 2019, the island has sent 593 health professionals to 14 countries, including Italy, all members of a "humanitarian brigade".
Roberto's mission, it began on March 22, in pouring rain, "in appalling cold", in a city of Crema cloistered and bereaved by an avalanche of deaths, hit hard by the virus.
"We always feel fear, because we came to fight in the global epicenter of the disease," said the young brown man with the emerging beard.
"You want to go to the front, and at the same time you fear not being up to it. But as soon as we started to work, we did well", especially in the cooperation with European counterparts, says he.
"The Italian doctors have a personality close to that of the Cubans. They are warm, very smiling, they thank us for being here. There are also those who make jokes ...".
"And from a technical point of view, strictly medical, the agreement is perfect," says the doctor, who has not taken a day off since his arrival.
The days systematically begin with a visit to the patients, accompanied by an Italian doctor and a nurse. Always dressed from head to toe, like a cosmonaut, in a full suit of health protection.
"It's in the morning that you feel a little tired," he admits. "But the neurons quickly get back in place, you remember why you are here, and you plunge back into the bath".
- "Full of pride" -
The father of an 11-month-old baby says he is full of joy and "full of pride".
"The welcome from the Italian people was very warm. People hung banners on their windows + thank you Cuba, thank you Cuba +", he congratulates himself.
"We will stay here as long as necessary. And we will return to the country with a sense of duty accomplished," said Carlos Pérez Díaz, head of the Cuban contingent, based at the seat of the diocese of Crema.
The sending of Cuban doctors abroad lasted from the 1960s until 2000 when the island, weakened by the economic crisis due to the collapse of the Soviet big brother, began to charge it to the wealthiest countries.
It is now one of Cuba's main sources of income ($ 6.3 billion in 2018), with currently nearly 29,000 medical workers present in 59 countries every year.
It has also become the target of Washington, which has reinforced its embargo - in force since 1962 - since the arrival of Donald Trump. The American administration accuses Havana of "exploiting a slave workforce", while using these doctors as political activists or potential spies in their country of assignment.
"Cuban doctors never came for financial reasons," said Roberto. "We come to help without asking anything in return. But if that translates into assistance in kind or financial (in Cuba) in return, it is obviously appreciated," he concedes.
"Many of us are not believers, but to have the opportunity to meet Pope Francis would be great", admits Roberto, while the sovereign pontiff has praised these Cuban doctors, "heroes" who came to the rescue Italians from their Caribbean island.
© 2020 AFP