Members of the Henry Reeve International Brigade, the rescue and relief team, and the group of Cuban engineers are preparing to return to Cuba after weeks of work in Venezuela, where they participated in rescue efforts and assistance for victims of the earthquakes that struck the country on June 24, 2026.
Before leaving, the specialists were honored in Caracas with the Medal of April 16 —an award granted by the Cuban Medical Brigade in Venezuela— and the Venezuela-Cuba Friendship Prize, in recognition of their contribution during the emergency. The ceremony was organized by the Cuban Embassy in Venezuela and the National Working Group as a demonstration of bilateral solidarity, as reported by the official Canal Caribe.
One of the rescue workers interviewed in Caracas described the magnitude of what they experienced: "A highly catastrophic situation, a disaster that we have never seen in Cuba, an experience we take back to Cuba to share with the firefighters and rescuers who remain in our teams."
Another specialist remarked on the recognition received: "Overall, I believe that this recognition is very positive and represents a great deal to us from both a scientific and a spiritual perspective."
The earthquakes on June 24 were one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent Venezuelan history. The double seismic event—measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, occurring just 39 seconds apart—had epicenters in the San Felipe–Yumare–Montalbán area, in the states of Yaracuy and Carabobo. La Guaira was declared a Disaster Zone, and the international system GDACS issued a Red Alert; it was estimated that 2.4 million people were exposed to severe shaking. Official figures from the past few days reported more than 5,300 fatalities and over 16,700 injuries.
Cuba responded swiftly. A first contingent of 13 specialists arrived in Venezuela on June 28 with three trained dogs to locate people under rubble —Tito, Eva, and Choco—, and a second group of rescuers, surgeons, and forensic experts landed on June 29 at Arturo Michelena International Airport in Valencia, Carabobo state, with over seven tons of specialized equipment.
On July 4th, the Venezuelan government awarded 478 specialists from 12 nations, including Cubans. The three working dogs received the distinction "Canine Heroes of Venezuela."
The mission is part of the historic Cuba-Venezuela cooperation that began in 2003, which has mobilized over 165,000 Cuban health professionals to that country. In 2026, the Cuban medical mission maintains more than 12,000 collaborators distributed across the 24 Venezuelan states, although the pressure from Washington has accelerated the withdrawal of Cuban missions abroad since Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in January 2026.
Despite this context, the Cuban medical mission already present in Venezuela mobilized immediately after the earthquakes to assist the injured at the comprehensive diagnostic centers in La Guaira, according to reports from the end of June.
The specialists returning to the island, according to the narrative from Canal Caribe, do so "with the satisfaction of a job well done" and with a rescue experience in extreme conditions that, in their own words, has no precedent in the recent history of Cuban brigades.
Filed under: