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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/italians-denounces-u-s-pressure-to-halt-cuban-medical-cooperation-in-calabria/">telesurenglish.net</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Italians Denounces U.S. Pressure to Halt Cuban Medical Cooperation in Calabria </h1><br></div>
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<p><img width="494" height="278" src="https://ikona.telesurenglish.net/content/uploads/2026/02/Cuban-doctors-in-Calabria-Italy-2026-768x432.jpeg.webp" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p><p>Cuban doctors in Calabria, Italy, 2026. Photo: Il Faro di Roma</p>
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February 26, 2026 Hour: 2:17 pm </p>
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<h2>Artists and Intellectuals defend health agreement as U.S. diplomat meet with regional governor.</h2>
<p>On Thursday, Italian artists and intellectuals denounced U.S.
pressure aimed at halting the collaboration of Cuban doctors in the
region of Calabria.</p>
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<p>\u201cOur country is also suffering the attack of the United States, which
seeks to force us not to collaborate with Cuba in any way,\u201d states an
editorial published in the newspaper Il Faro di Roma, signed by Rita
Martufi, Salvatore Izzo, and Luciano Vasapollo, members of the Network
of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity (REDH).</p>
<p>In the editorial titled \u201c<a href="https://www.farodiroma.it/aggiornato-medici-non-bombe-la-sfida-di-cuba-e-della-calabria-allingerenza-criminale-degli-usa-e-la-battaglia-per-la-nostra-sanita-intervista-a-vasapollo-rita-martufi-e-salvatore-izzo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doctors, Not Bombs: The Challenge of Cuba and Calabria to Criminal U.S. Interference and the Battle for Our Health Care</a>,\u201d
they denounced that the charge d\u2019affaires of the U.S. Embassy in
Havana, Mike Hammer, met with Calabria Gov. Roberto Occhiuto on Feb. 23.</p>
<p>Following that meeting, Occhiuto reaffirmed that Cuban specialists
are an indispensable resource for the stability of the regional health
system, which had hospitals and emergency rooms at risk of closure
before the arrival of the Cuban support.</p>
<p>Lawmaker Angelo Bonelli, leader of the parliamentary alliance between
the parties Green Europe and the Italian Left, urged Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni to \u201ccounter the undue interference of a foreign nation in
our country\u2019s internal affairs.\u201d</p>
<p><strong><em>The textg reads, \u201cHammer, go home! A message directed to
the U.S. diplomat in Havana, who is on a mission in Italy to demand the
expulsion of Cuban doctors from Calabria.\u201d</em></strong></p>
<p>Currently, Cuban doctors and health workers provide services in 29
hospitals across the provinces of Vibo Valentia, Catanzaro, Crotone,
Cosenza and Reggio Calabria.</p>
<p>Since the arrival of the first group in late 2022, the presence of
these professionals has increased with new groups that arrived in 2024
and 2025, addressing critical shortages in one of the Italian areas with
the greatest economic difficulties.</p>
<p>The Calabria region faced a health crisis for years that kept
hospitals and emergency rooms on the verge of closure, leaving entire
communities without basic services. The lack of health care has been
reversed thanks to the incorporation of hundreds of Cuban doctors into
the regional public system.</p>
<p>Supporters of the agreement say that amid the recovery of the local
health system, there is an external attempt to weaken a model of
humanitarian cooperation grounded in solidarity.</p>
<p>This approach to assistance was defined by Comandante Fidel Castro as
the highest expression of revolutionary commitment to humanity.</p>
<p><strong><em>The text reads, \u201cDoctors, not bombs: Cuba and Calabria\u2019s
challenge to U.S. criminal interference and the battle for our
healthcare.\u201d</em></strong></p>
<p>\u201cIn the United States, the world\u2019s richest economy and a country that
is not economically blocked by any power, only 51% of the population
can access and afford quality health services,\u201d said Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodriguez.</p>
<p>\u201cBut its diplomats dedicate themselves to traveling through countries
where Cuban professionals and personnel provide medical services. The
mission of the tour is to try to put an end to such a necessary and
humane service,\u201d he added.</p>
<p>Recently, Cuba\u2019s ambassador to Italy and permanent representative to
United Nations agencies in Rome, Jorge Cepero, presented his credentials
to Italian President Sergio Mattarella.</p>
<p>After the official ceremony, both dignitaries held a private meeting
in which they reaffirmed their shared willingness to deepen the ties of
friendship, respect and cooperation that unite the two nations.</p>
<p>Within the framework of solidarity that characterizes relations
between the two countries, they recalled the work of the two Cuban
brigades belonging to the Henry Reeve Contingent, which assisted Italy
during the most critical moments of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p><strong><em>teleSUR/ JF </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Sources: Il Faro di Roma \u2013 PL</em></strong></p></div></div></div>
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