Caracas.— A medical brigade of 120 Cuban collaborators will provide medical assistance to the population affected by floods in Guasdualito, capital of José Antonio Páez municipality, in the state of Apure.

The detachment formed of primarily specialists, comprehensive family medicine doctors, nurses and a complete surgical team, was presented with the Cuban flag by senior officials of the island’s medical mission in Venezuela, and since July 5 has been making its ways to affected region.

In statements to the press the young doctor heading the brigade, Víc­tor Alonso noted that “We are not technically part of the Hen­ry Reeve brigade, designed to deal with natural disasters, but our professional training enables us to handle these kinds of situations, as we will demonstrate.”

“Our number one objective is to help and ensure the health of the more than 40,000 people affected in the zone. The call was made by President Nicolás Maduro himself, and there we shall remain until the situation is resolved and for as long as the Bolivarian Revolution needs us,” stated Gilberto Casanova, one of the brigade doctors.

Dr. Roberto González, head of the Cuban medical mission in the South American Nation, praised the rapid response of the personnel already working in the region to the emergency.

He also reaffirmed Cuba’s willingness to increase, if necessary, the number of doctors in the affected zone, and noted that the brigade sent to Apure will be working in field hospitals in order to provide emergency medical attention to victims.

Floods occurred after the rivers Arauca and Sarare burst their banks, a result of persistent rains across the mountainous regions of Táchira, in the west of the country.

According to information from the Direction of Civil Protection and Disaster Administration, this Sunday water levels had begun to decrease in Gua­s­dua­lito, facilitating engineering works and damage assessment in the area.