Vida

“When I speak of internal threats, I am only thinking about social or moral dangers than could affect our people and jeopardize their safety, education or health. It is well known how hard we have fought against the habit of smoking, and how it has been greatly reduced. We are similarly fighting against alcohol abuse, or the unfortunate practice of its consumption during pregnancy, which can lead to the birth of children with mental retardation or other serious physical disabilities”.

“Social security covers 100% of the country’s citizens”.

“Quality of life is patriotism, quality of life is dignity, quality of life is honor. Quality of life is the self-esteem that every human being has the right to enjoy”.

“Glory be to these young people! Glory be to these new saviors of lives who are taking this noble medical profession to new heights of dedication and ethics, never before seen in this world!  They embody the kind of doctors claimed for with desperate urgency by billions of people”.

The “Henry Reeve” Brigade has been created, and whatever tasks you undertake in any part of the world or our own homeland, you shall always bear the glorious distinction of having responded to the call to assistance our brothers and sisters in the United States, and that nation’s humblest children especially, with courage and dignity.

Let’s go forward, generous defenders of health and of life, winners over pain and death itself!

"The world is desperately crying out for unity and if we cannot achieve a minimum of unity, we are not going to go anywhere".

"In Cuba, heart problems are the first cause of death, and most of patients die on the way to the hospital, they die because they did not receive immediate assistance within half an hour or one hour.  They take one and a half hours, two hours, and by applying all relevant medications the blood clots can be removed.  A high number of persons can be saved if they are assisted by an experienced professional and receive those medications, using equipment which help them to find out what is wrong with the patient.  The diagnosis is not based only on the doctor’s judgment".

"(...) that mental retardation is no dishonor to anyone, and in a society like ours, mentally retarded children should go to school and get  prepared so that their lives could be as normal as possible.  No one is to blame.  Parents perhaps are if, for example, they fail to fully understand that during pregnancy, mothers-to-be should not drink alcohol.  Parents could have some responsibility, but children have none. There is mild, moderate, severe, and deep mental retardation".

“Throughout its lifetime, the Revolution has taught the people, training hundreds of thousands of teachers, doctors, scientists, intellectuals, artists, computer engineers and other professionals with university and post-graduate degrees in dozens of professions.  This storehouse of wealth has allowed us to reduce infant mortality to low levels, unthinkable in any Third World country, and to raise life expectancy as well as the average educational level of the population up to the ninth grade.”

“We will make use of computers, not to create weapons of mass destruction and exterminate people but to convey knowledge to other peoples. From the economic point of view, the development of the intelligence and conscience of our fellow citizens, made possible by the Revolution, allow us not only to aid those in most need at no cost to us, but also to export specialized services, including healthcare services, to countries that have more resources than our own. In this field, the United States will never be able to compete with Cuba.”