Caracas, April 16 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil highlighted here today the fundamental role played by Cuba and the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on the 22nd anniversary of the Barrio Adentro Mission.
“We wish to highlight the fundamental role played by Cuba and Commander Fidel Castro through his thousands of humanistic doctors, who made the Health Revolution in Venezuela possible,” the senior diplomat stated on his Telegram account.
Gil emphasized that this program “stands as a triumphant testimony to what we can achieve when our peoples unite in a spirit of brotherhood and solidarity.”
The text responded to the message sent this Wednesday by “our esteemed brother” and Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, who in his account on X recalled “the historic and revolutionary initiative of President Hugo Chávez (1954-2013).”
Rodríguez stated that the Barrio Adentro Mission “brought quality medical care to all communities in that country, with the participation of more than 165,000 Cuban collaborators.”
Commanders Chávez and Fidel Castro (1926-2016) were the architects of this program, which initially consisted of the installation of popular clinics in the most neglected communities of the Bolivarian Republic, to which thousands of Cuban professionals came to offer collaboration.
The Barrio Adentro Mission began as a pilot project in the Libertador and Sucre municipalities of Caracas’s Capital District, with the participation of some 30,000 Cuban doctors.
This experience brought the novelty of providing preventive care to patients and being implemented completely free of charge, principles upheld to this day despite the country’s difficult economic conditions in recent years due to the blockade and coercive measures.
The Venezuelan population received 1.296 billion,915,510 medical consultations, and more than 1.49 million lives were saved thanks to the care provided by Cuban doctors, according to official sources.
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