Waiting to discover where exactly they would serve was just one indication of the vital importance of their mission. Additionally, every one of the nine physicians interviewed in Historias Secretas met some combination of Fidel, Raúl Castro, Che, MINSAP (the Cuban Health Department) head José Ramón Machado, Commander Risquet, Commander Dreke, and Cabral before, during, and/or after their trip to Africa. Preparing to leave for Zaire, Rafaél Zerquera recalled that “April 10, 1965, was the happiest day of my life because I was interviewed by Fidel Castro.”27 Shortly after arriving in Zaire, Diego Lagomasino “gave Che a suitcase with asthma medicine and bullets for an M1 gun. Meeting someone like Che had a big impact.”28 Héctor Vera spoke with Fidel upon returning from Zaire: “Fidel asked about sicknesses, malaria, how we were able to diagnose, and what treatments we used. After chatting, he told us that we could not divulge anything about the mission.”29
Before departing for the Congo, Álvarez Cambras describes having breakfast with Fidel:
He spoke to us of Africa in general without specifying the country. He asked if we had pistols, and I said, yes, a P38. He told his assistant to find a better weapon and he brought a Stich of twenty shots. Fidel saw that I wasn’t wearing a watch and told me that it was important for a doctor going to war to have one. He took off one of the two watches he was wearing, a Longines, and gave it to me.30
When Diego Lagomasino did his postgraduate Rural Medical Service (RMS) in Santo Tomás, he worked alone and “had to be the doctor, nurse, distribute medications, and look for supplies.”31 This multitasking helped prepare him for Africa. Zerquera explains that when he graduated his RMS was used as a screening to see if he was suitable for the Zaire mission:
A document circulated asking where we would like to do our RMS and I wrote “wherever the revolution needs me.” José Ramón Machado of MINSAP called me to his office and said that there was a conflict zone in the Sierra Maestra, where a group had burned the medical post and killed the doctor. He asked me if I was still willing to go.32
Zerquera replied that he would go where Machado assigned him. After a short stint in the Sierra Maestra, Machado called him back to let him know that an important but highly risky international mission awaited him and Zerquera was soon on his way to Zaire.
Once they learned of their destinations, the doctors still had little idea of what was in store for them. Luís Peraza recalled that all he “knew about Africa was the Tarzan movies.” Impressions of their experiences differed sharply according to country, with Zaire being the gloomiest. Toward the end of the period of Cuban military support in Zaire, Che called a meeting of Communist Party members and asked who still thought that they could win. Only two military leaders and two doctors raised their hands, and Che concluded that they might have been showing him personal support. Che then asked who would be willing to fight until death and all the hands went up.33
Zerquera remembered how the Simbas in Zaire did not seem interested in preparing for a guerrilla struggle: “It was an experience, but it wasn’t pleasant. If it had been a sacrifice with a reward, I would have felt satisfied. But it was not rewarding.”34
The Congo inspired different feelings in Justo Piñeiro. “The population identified with us,” he explained. “We bought things from them. We went to the same places and knew the local people from seeing them on the street.”35
By far, however, the most positive memories were of Guinea-Bissau. Domingo Díaz knew “many brave Guinean officers and soldiers who would have given their lives to prevent a Cuban from falling into the hands of the enemy.”36 Dr. Milton Hechevarría emphasized that when he got back to Cuba, he couldn’t forget Guinea-Bissau.37
Whatever country they went to, Cuban doctors faced a combination of stressful conditions that they were unlikely to have experienced at home: incredibly rough terrain, enemy fire, and unpleasant, dangerous animals. Diego Lagomasino recalled facing serious physical challenges when his group arrived in Zaire:
We had to go to the base camp that was on the top of a high ridge. We left at six in the morning and at seven in the evening were still climbing. Never in my life had I seen a ridge that tall. I thought I was going to die.38
Looking back on the same walk, Héctor Vera felt like he could not bear the weight of his pistol, ammunition, medical supplies, and personal belongings in his knapsack. He was saved by a Zairean boy who motioned that he would carry it for him.39
In Guinea-Bissau, Díaz went on strenuous walks for seven or eight days, on roads with deep holes that could not be seen after it rained. “In this region, we didn’t measure time with a watch,” Díaz recounted. Instead, time was measured by “distance, which is to say one day’s walk, half a day’s walk.” He concluded that the terrain was so rough that “in Cuba there was no possibility of training for this type of event.”40
In addition to the challenges of the terrain, there were military dangers. To avoid detection by the enemy, Héctor Vera’s group crossed Lake Tanganyika with several Simbas who began lighting matches to see where they were going. The Cubans in the boat told them not to because there was a gasoline motor that could catch on fire. However, there was no other way to see and they continued with the matches. Upon arriving in Zaire, they had not traveled fifty meters before they had to fall to the ground as enemy planes flew overhead.41
In Guinea-Bissau, the Portuguese attacked Amado Alfonso Delgado’s group with napalm, while fifteen helicopters landed to hunt them. They survived by running from seven in the morning until five in the afternoon.42
The doctors encountered insects, reptiles, and other creatures they had never seen before. In an emergency military undertaking in the Congo, Álvarez Cambras saw anthills so tall that they prevented their plane from landing.43 Fleeing from the Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau, Delgado recalls bumping into an enormous beehive:
I had over three hundred stings. Only ten were dangerous and can send a person into shock. But I was under so much tension that my body was producing steroids, which is exactly the treatment used. None of the stings became inflamed and the other six with me had the same luck.44
While none of Cuba’s snakes are poisonous, many are in the Congo where Julián Álvarez thought he ran across them everywhere.45
Waters in Guinea-Bissau were often inhospitable. Díaz described walking through a lake for hours with water up to their chests. “It was full of leeches and they advised me to tie my pants tight and walk with my arms up so they could not get in. When we got out we were attacked by mosquitoes that bit through my coat.” One day, Díaz and his comrades found that
the Corubal and Gaba Rivers met where they emptied into the sea. It was like an arm of the sea where there were sharks, hippopotamuses, and crocodiles. As we crossed in canoes made from tree trunks, they told me to be careful because a man had recently fallen in and never reappeared.46
MILITARY DOCTORS AT WORK
Physicians found working conditions to be quite different from those in Cuban polyclinics. It was very clear to Virgilio Camacho that although he was a doctor, he was armed because at any moment he might have to participate in combat.47 The Cuban doctors practiced in small groups. In the Congo, the group Álvarez Cambras was part of included a surgeon, an orthopedist, and two pediatricians. Later, they were joined by an anesthesiologist nurse and dentists.48 In 1966, Díaz traveled toward Guinea-Bissau as one of nine physicians. Once there, he was assigned to Saará in the northern region where they were “the only three doctors and there were no Cuban nurses.” They worked closely with several young Guineans and trained them as nurses.49
Since the Cuban staff rotated and PAIGC policy was to understate the extent of their involvement, some