The Barrio Adentro mission, which thousands and thousands of Cubans have been part of, is consolidated and forged from solidarity and the right to life. With these principles, doctors, technologists and specialists have contributed to the development of this program promoted by Fidel and Chávez.
With the satisfaction of a duty fulfilled, Iliana Velázquez Labrada, a nursing professional from Calixteña, arrived in her hometown with the pride of assuming, as a true Mariana of these times, a mission of more than 3 years. “It is said easily but it is not. You leave your loved ones aside to suddenly assume another reality and make Cuban colleagues and dozens of families who fight a battle for life your own.”
“Venezuela has been an unforgettable experience of much learning, respect, admiration, and above all, pride of what you are and what you defend,” confesses the intensive care nurse, who challenged death on multiple occasions. “The Covid-19 pandemic was very hard on me. I had to work in the capital district, exhausting shifts, sad to see people die but many more fighting to live, with a rigorous protocol, I never got infected.”
“When I had to enter the room,” says Velázquez Labrada, “my mind was with my daughter and family, then the patients suddenly made you put aside the emotional part and dedicate yourself fully to those who needed the greatest care, the most precise procedures to relieve, console. After these difficult moments, I took on other challenges such as being an intensivist, always with the pride of being Cuban and putting on high what I learned in my country for the good of humanity.”
For these and many other reasons in which the will and love to give hope and light to others came first, Iliana Velázquez Labrada was awarded the Gold Seal and the April 16 medal. “I am very happy and proud to have been awarded these high recognitions, which were also received by three other colleagues. The work was hard but satisfying, which is the most important thing.”
[Iliana Velázquez Labrada was awarded the Gold Seal and the April 16 medal.] Iliana Velázquez Labrada was awarded the Gold Seal and the April 16 medal.
Now at her home in the Nuevo de Buenaventura neighborhood, the young nurse tells her family and friends the anecdotes of the grateful people of Caracas, the feats, the challenges of exhausting days, and above all, the pride of being an exponent of an altruistic and supportive profession that deserves all the admiration in the world.
