Miguel Díaz-Canel awarded the 18 members of the Cuban Rescue and Salvage Brigade with the medal "For bravery during service" this Wednesday, in a ceremony held at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, according to the post made by the president on his Twitter account.
The recognition comes just over a week after the rescuers returned to Cuba on July 27, after operating for nearly a month in Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes of June 24, 2026, the strongest recorded in that country since 1900.
The two earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, occurred just 39 seconds apart and primarily devastated La Guaira and Caracas. The toll of victims has continued to rise: from 164 deaths in the first days, the number has increased to over 6,125 fatalities by the end of this Wednesday.
The first Cuban contingent, consisting of 13 specialists and three trained dogs—Tito, Eva, and Choco—arrived in Venezuela on June 28, just four days after the earthquakes.
A second group of rescuers, surgeons, and forensic experts joined later, completing an operation that transported over seven tons of specialized equipment and engaged in tasks related to rescue, recovery of bodies, and securing collapsed structures in La Guaira.
This is not the first distinction received by the brigade: on July 4th, the Venezuelan government led by Delcy Rodríguez awarded Cuban rescuers the medal "Heroes and Heroines of Venezuela" in a ceremony in La Guaira, which was also attended by Diosdado Cabello, along with specialists from 11 other nations.
In that event, the dogs Tito, Eva, and Choco received the "Canine Heroes of Venezuela" distinction for locating people under the rubble.
Upon leaving Venezuela on July 27, the brigade was also honored with the April 16 Medal and the Venezuela-Cuba Friendship Award.
Díaz-Canel took advantage of the ceremony on Wednesday to frame the mission within the official discourse of the dictatorship. "Their dedication, at the risk of their own lives, honors the school of solidarity of the Revolution. Mission accomplished," he wrote in his post.
The regime uses this humanitarian mission as a narrative of "revolutionary solidarity" at a time when the bilateral relationship is undergoing a reconfiguration: following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, the Cuban government publicly acknowledged for the first time the death of 32 Cubans who were "on missions" for the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior in Venezuela, a military and intelligence presence that both governments had denied for years.
The rescue brigade represents, in the official narrative, the humanitarian face of a bilateral relationship that since 2003 has included the dispatch of more than 165,000 Cuban health professionals to Venezuela, and which continues today under the government of Delcy Rodríguez.
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