The president of Venezuela is one of the men who has done the most for the
health and education of his people; since these are subjects where the
Cuban Revolution has accumulated the most experience, we gladly
collaborate to the maximum with this sister country in both areas.

It is by no means a matter of that country lacking doctors; quite the
opposite. They had an abundance of doctors, among them there were even
first-class professionals, just as in other Latin American countries. It
is a social matter. The best medical doctors and the most sophisticated
equipment could be placed at the service of private medicine, as it is in
all capitalist countries. And often not even that, because in
underdeveloped capitalism, like the type that used to exist in Venezuela,
the wealthy class had sufficient means to go to the best hospitals in the
United States or Europe, something that was and is customary and nobody
can deny it.

Even worse, the United States and Europe have been noted for seducing the
best specialists from any exploited Third World country to abandon their
homeland and to emigrate to the consumer societies. Training doctors for
that world in the developed countries implies fabulous sums of money that
millions of poor Latin American and Caribbean families would never be able
to pay. In Cuba, that used to happen until the Revolution took up the
challenge, not just of training doctors capable of serving our own
country, but also the other peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean or the
world.

Never have we stolen the intelligences of other peoples. On the contrary;
in Cuba we have trained tens of thousands of doctors and other top-level
professionals, for free, in order to send them back to their own countries.

Thanks to the profound Bolivarian and Marti-inspired revolutions,
Venezuela and Cuba are countries where health and education have been
extraordinarily developed. Every citizen has the real right to receive
general education and professional training at no cost, something that the
United States has not been able to ensure for all its inhabitants. The
reality is that the government of that country invests a billion dollars
every year on its military machine and its war adventures. Furthermore, it
is the greatest exporter of weapons and the instruments of death and the
greatest market for drugs in the world. Because of this traffic, tens of
thousands of Latin American lives are lost every year.

It is such a real and well-known fact that more than 50 years ago, a
president having military origins bitterly denounced the decisive power
accumulated by the military-industrial complex in that country.

These words would be superfluous if it were not for the intervention of
the hateful and repugnant campaign unleashed by the massive Venezuelan
oligarchy media, at the service of that empire, using the health problems
being experienced by the Bolivarian President. We are united to the
President with close and indestructible bonds of friendship that came into
being from his first visit to our homeland on December 13th, 1994.

Some were surprised by the coincidence of his visit to Cuba with the
necessity of seeking medical care. The Venezuelan President visited out
country with the same aim that took him to Brazil and Ecuador. He had no
intention of receiving medical care in our homeland.

It is well-known that for a few years now, a team of Cuban health
specialists are providing their services to the Venezuelan President who,
loyal to his Bolivarian principles, never considered them to be
undesirable foreigners, but sons and daughters of the Great Latin American
Homeland on behalf of which The Liberator fought, right up to his last
living breath.

The first contingent of Cuban doctors left for Venezuela when the Vargas
Stadium tragedy occurred, taking thousands of this noble country's lives.
This action of solidarity was nothing new; it made up a tradition
well-established in our country from the first years of the Revolution,
from the time almost half a century ago when Cuban doctors were sent to
recently-independent Algeria. That tradition grew stronger while the
Cuban Revolution, in the midst of a cruel blockade, was training
internationalist doctors. Countries such as Peru, Somoza's Nicaragua and
other countries in our hemisphere and in the Third World were suffering
from tragedies as a result of earthquakes or other causes that required
Cuba's solidarity. So, our country became the nation in the world that
had the highest rate of doctors and specialized health personnel, with
extremely high levels of experience and professional capabilities.

President Chávez put a great emphasis in relating with our health
personnel. This way, a bond of confidence and friendship was born between
him and the Cuban doctors who were always very sensitive to the treatment
of the Venezuelan leader; and he was able to create thousands of health
centres and outfit them with the necessary equipment in order to provide
free services for all Venezuelans. There was no other government in the
world that did so much, in such a short time, for the health of its people.

A large percentage of Cuban health personnel provided services in
Venezuela and many of them also acted as teachers in certain subjects that
were being taught to train more than 20,000 young Venezuelans who began to
graduate as medical doctors. Many of them began their studies in our
country. The internationalist doctors, members of Battalion 51, graduates
of the Latin American School of Medicine, have earned solid prestige in
carrying out complicated and difficult missions. On these bases my
relations in this field with President Hugo Chávez were built.

I should add that in the course of more than twelve years, since February
2, 1999, the president and leader of the Venezuelan Revolution has not
rested one single day and thus he occupies a unique place in the history
of this hemisphere. All of his energy has been dedicated to the Revolution.

One could say that for every extra hour Chávez dedicates to his work, the
president of the United States rests for two hours.

It was difficult, almost impossible, that his health would not suffer some
sort of breakdown and this is what happened in the last few months.

He is a person used to the rigors of military life and he would stoically
put up with the aches and pains that were plaguing him with ever
increasing frequency. Given the friendly relations developed and the
constant exchanges between Cuba and Venezuela, added to my personal health
experience that I underwent since the proclamation of July 30, 2006, it is
not unusual that I should have noticed the need for a strict medical
check-up for the President. He is far too generous in granting me any
special merit in this matter.

Of course, I admit that it was no easy task that I set for myself. It
wasn't difficult for me to notice that he had some health problems. Seven
months had gone by since his last visit to Cuba. The medical team devoted
to caring for his health had pleaded for me to take up the matter. From
the very first moment, the President's attitude was one of informing the
people, with complete clarity, about the state of his health. That was
why, at the point by then of returning, via his minister of Foreign
Affairs, he informed the people about his health up to that instant and he
promised to keep them informed in detail.

Each treatment was accompanied by rigorous cellular and laboratory
analyses, of the kind that are done under such circumstances.

One of the tests, several days following the first surgery, showed results
that determined more radical surgery and special treatment for the patient.

In his dignified message on June 30th, the noticeably recovered President
speaks about the state of his health with absolute clarity.

I admit that it was no easy task for me to inform my friend about the new
development. I could see the dignity with which he received the news that
--while his mind was dealing with so many important tasks, among them the
celebrations commemorating the Bicentennial and the formalization of the
agreement on Latin American and Caribbean unity - much more than the
physical suffering that radical surgery would imply, signified a test, as
he put it, that he compared to the difficult moments he had to face in his
lifetime as an unyielding combatant.

Along with him, the team of persons caring for him and who he described as
sublime fought a magnificent battle which I have witnessed.

With no hesitation whatsoever, I state that the results are impressive and
that the patient fought a decisive battle that shall lead him and
Venezuela along with him, to a great victory.

One has to make sure that his declaration is communicated word for word in
every language, but especially it should be translated and subtitled into
English; this is a language that can be understood on this Tower of Babel
into which imperialism has transformed the world.

Now the external and internal enemies of Hugo Chávez are at the mercy of
his words and his initiatives. Without a doubt there shall be surprises
in store for them. Let us wish him our most steadfast support and trust.
The lies of the empire and the treason of the quislings shall be
defeated. Today there are millions of militant and aware Venezuelans who
shall never be made to submit to the oligarchy and the empire.

Fidel Castro Ruz
July 3, 2011
4:12 p.m.