Local collaborator tells about memories of Venezuela

Guaimaro, Feb 11. - A call became a commitment in 2008. Jose Angel Galardy Hidalgo proudly took on the challenge of carrying out a mission in the sister Republic of Venezuela and joining the group of Cubans willing to strengthen the program Barrio Adentro, designed by the unforgettable Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Frias.

Reporter: From your work period as internationalist collaborator, tell us about unforgettable experiences.

Jose Angel: What pleased me most during my period of collaboration in Venezuela was working with grandparents and children. When my colleague Hanoi Garcia Fon and I reached the schools of San Cristobal municipality, from Tachira state, children faces sparkled with the same power of the sun when waking up between the big hills, landscape which much reminded me of my land, my people from Levisa in Holguin, eastern Cuban province, surrounded by mountains.

R: How did days pass?

JA: With a lot of activity, grandparents awaited the start time of the dancing therapy, we got together more than 150 seniors who enjoyed not only the exercises, but also the contagious rhythm of the Cuban music. Eagerly, they stretched muscles, made the body more supple, and moved to the beat of Los Van Van, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, among other bands that give prestige to the culture of the island.

R: What activities did you develop with children?

J. A: Working with children was fabulous. We shared with them swimming lessons, also dancing therapy, we talked about human values. We explained them the importance of solidarity, reciprocity and patriotism. We told them about childhood in Cuba, about programs such as A jugar, about street plans, well, we depicted  the joy of the young generations of the biggest island in the West Indies, which we missed a lot during the two-year commitment to the Bolivarian homeland.

R: Did you get friends?

J. A: Yes, very good by the way. I admired their devotion to the unforgettable Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias. I tell you, "at the party for St Valentine’s Day, on February 14, 2009, grandmothers that Hanoi and I were attending surprised us with a gift I keep with the same tenderness when I received it. It is the book 'Chavez nuestro', by prominent Cuban reporters Rosa Miriam Elizalde and deceased Luis Baez ".

R: What does the name Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias mean to you?

JA: A whole, a visionary man that death soon deprived us of his wisdom. Chavez was a symbol of values, hopes, dreams. I became indignant when Venezuelans, very few of them, underestimated the effort and dedication of a friend of Cuba. The Venezuelan president was and is, because his mark lives on, an amazing human being. Alluding to Hugo Chavez, to any Cuban like me, to any man and woman on planet earth, is a privilege. As he said, referring to his friendship with Fidel, "we both must thank life for knowing each other", the protagonists of nowadays thank history for the eternal presence, intellect and actions of the supreme leader of the Bolivarian Revolution,  our Chavez, the Chavez of these and all times.

R: Thanks Jose Angel Galardy for talking to me, for telling us unforgettable experiences, events of a real legend that had as its main figure  a Holguin-Guaimaro citizen, internationalist collaborator in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, another soldier of the Cubans’ army that enforce the human guarantee of  solidarity and social and spiritual effect of the Mission Barrio Adentro. Cuba and Venezuela, bound for equality, respect and peace.