HEALTH:
'Children Are the Hope of the World' Says Che's Daughter
Francesca Colombo*

MILAN,  (Tierramérica) - Aleida Guevara March has the eyes of her famous father, the revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara. She speaks energetically, as if she is attempting to convince a full auditorium of her ideas. But she also smiles tenderly as she remembers her father.

The pediatric allergist, 46, still refers to Cuba's ailing President Fidel Castro as "tio" (uncle), and is confident of his recovery. Once active in the Union of Young Communists, she now combines her work in a children's hospital in Havana with frequent trips around the world to promote what she considers the achievements of the Caribbean island nation's socialist regime, among them, universal access to free healthcare.

"I believe in solidarity and love. And in the possibility of men and women to express their feelings and create a much more just world for all of us," she said in a Tierramérica interview during a recent visit to Milan, Italy, part of a trip in which she is promoting children's rights to health.

TIERRAMERICA: What did you inherit from your father, what did you learn from him?

ALEIDA GUEVARA: I learned everything from him. I inherited a bit of his smile, the shape of his eyes, and perhaps a little of his rebelliousness. When I was a girl my life revolved around my dad. But when I was older I realised that I loved that man because my mother had made that love possible. Despite the fact that he wasn't with us, she was able to keep him present in some way.

TA: Did you enjoy some privileges as the daughter of Che Guevara?

AG: None. On the contrary, I tried to make a bit more of an effort.

TA: Your father was a doctor. Did that influence your decision to study medicine?

AG: Initially, perhaps, but I can't guarantee that it was true later. A career in medicine in Cuba allows one to be very close to pain and human needs. Choosing it was a way to show appreciation for what was given to me.

TA: You talk a great deal about how children die because they don't live in a healthy environment.

AG: I'm a pediatrician and strongly defend the younger generations. (Cuban independence hero) José Martí said children are the hope of the world, they are the ones who know how to love. Therefore, it is essential to protect them, they have to be strong and healthy in order to be free adults.

In Cuba, despite the criminal blockade (the four-decade U.S. trade embargo), we have been able to do wonderful things for our children: we protect them and we ensure their physical and intellectual development.

TA: You studied in Havana, but graduated in Nicaragua. What did you learn from the Nicaraguans?

AG: It was a very difficult experience. There, I would have an incubator cover on my head, a laryngoscope in one hand, gauze in the other. I needed an endotracheal tube to use on a baby, and I asked a nurse for one. She said, "Why are you so anxious? Don't you see that God is calling him?" I felt awful. I was trying to save the baby's life and the nurse saw death as something natural. Nicaragua taught me that there are many things in Latin America that I don't comprehend, but that I have to try to understand, and maintain patience.

TA: You were in Angola from 1986 to 1988 on an international medical mission. Did that experience mark you in any way?

AG: I felt fully realised as a human being, although I faced a lot of work. I cried thousands of days and nights because children were dying who could have been saved if there had been enough medicine.

On one occasion I had three children with meningoencephalitis, and only one package of medicine. I had to decide which of the three would live. It is one of the most awful things I've done in my life. But I didn't have a choice. Since then I have fought and will continue to fight against racism and social inequality. Angola was the beginning of a rebellion that will last until the end of my life.

TA: You combine your profession with that of good-will ambassador for your country.

AG: Yes, but before that I was married and had two daughters. When they were a little older I began to work with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and traveled around the world carrying the message of the Cuban revolution and of the reality in which people live. Now I also feel like a spokeswoman for the Landless Workers' Movement of Brazil. And I do everything I can for our (Latin American) continent.

TA: What do you think of the controversy about the Cuban medical missions in Bolivia and Venezuela?

AG: They are problems with the local medical circles, who feel threatened by Cuban doctors. But we are going to the areas in their countries where they have never gone. Bolivia is not paying the 2,000 Cuban doctors -- Cuba and Venezuela are. Bolivia has around 10,000 unemployed health professionals. It's a problem that the country will have to solve.

*Francesca Colombo is a Tierramérica contributor.

(Originally published Dec. 9 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)