Fidel and Finlay on Latin American Medicine Day

The Cuban people greet with great joy a new Latin American Medicine Day, which every December 3 commemorates the birth in 1833 of the famous Cuban epidemiologist and researcher Carlos Juan Finlay, discoverer of the agent that transmits yellow fever, the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

One of the reasons is perhaps that only three months ago the nation was still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic despite the strenuous efforts of authorities, doctors, scientists and a multitude of collaborators. Undoubtedly, a tense and harsh reality that brought immense pain to Cuban families.

However, no hard work was ever done in vain, never mind the obstacles imposed by the U.S. blockade and the consequent economic recession of the country.

Many "miracles" became possible then, including the general and ever-growing immunization of the population with the national vaccines Soberana 2, Abdala and Soberana Plus, all three 100% Cuban.

Not much remains to be known today about the remarkable positive changes in the fight against the virus. The people are living them on site, with joy and hope and constantly observing the health protocols. Their hard work and sacrifices made these results possible.

In these days of recovery, redoubled efforts in vulnerable neighborhoods, the opening of tourism, the restart of the school year and the implementation of new economic plans, the immense contribution of Cuban medicine and science is focused on something considered the first reason for pride, security and confidence of Cubans in their relentless struggle for life.

It would seem that the presence of the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, as the driving force and creator of the projects for the education of the people and the development of science in a developing country, always besieged and harassed by the most powerful empire in the world, also resurfaces with cosmic force.

Without Fidel's vision and capacity to dream, the giant step of mass immunization of the Cuban population and the visible reduction of the incidence of the cruel disease would not have been possible today.

In times of greater imperial aggressions, literally unbridled, the impudent and often unreserved recruitment of mercenaries, and the dissemination of irrationally false news, Cuba’s science and its citizens believe in what they are living through and experiencing according to their principles, deeply rooted in our history and ideology.

Dr. Carlos Juan or Juan Carlos Finlay Barrés, depending on the biographer, a true unblemished icon of national science, Latin America and the planet, had to cope with and finally defeated U.S.’s attempts to rob him of the results of his exceptional research.

He was born in the province of Camagüey and died in Havana on August 19, 1915, leaving behind an outstanding career in the Cuban Academy of Sciences.

In addition to the discovery of the vector that transmits yellow fever, he made a relevant contribution to the treatment of infant tetanus and to the field of ophthalmology.

Fidel, Dr. Finlay and the Heroic Guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara will be remembered as part of the tribute to outstanding and avant-garde doctors and health workers, although it could be said that on this occasion all of them will be honored on account of the leading role they played in the fight against the pandemic.

Theirs was a crusade for life that did not neglect the work of primary care and the tasks of the family doctor's offices, in polyclinics and hospitals, along with the opening of isolation care centers and new medical service rooms to take care as best they could of COVID-19’s high demands.
The call to keep respecting the health protocols will prevail for a long time as the Cubans are invited to embrace them in their daily life. In the midst of a very favorable environment, Cuba continues marching towards new achievements. Happy Latin American Medicine Day!