Cuban documentary on Chernobyl children screened in Kiev

Diplomatic sources revealed that the Kiev House of Cinema screened this Thursday the Cuban documentary 'Chernobyl in Us' by journalist Daisy Gomez, produced by the production house of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television.

The material was made on the 20th anniversary of the nuclear accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, and the 16th anniversary of the Cuban program to treat the children affected by the disaster.

The presentation was chaired by Lilia Piltiay, vice president of the International Chernobyl Fund, a Ukrainian institution that was in charge of sending affected children to be treated at Cuba's Tarara health center.

Piltiay, initiator for the Ukrainian side of the Cuban program for the care of children affected by Chernobyl, explained that the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, accepted the request for international aid from the then Soviet Union's government.

She noted that a group of patients was selected and on March 29, 1987, the first 139 children with different oncohematological disorders arrived in Cuba. Cuba financed and developed this humanitarian program for over 20 years, even in the most difficult years of the Special Period, including the accomodation of both the children and their families.

In addition, Cuba was the only country that arranged a comprehensive, massive and free health program for the care of children affected by the Chernobyl disaster, Piltiay stressed.

Cuban head of Consular Affairs at the Cuban mission to Ukraine, Michel Alquizar Morales, announced that the 30th anniversary of the program will be celebrated next year, and revealed that several journalists are in Ukraine, engaged in the preparation of a documentary to commemorate the date.

'Chernobyl in Us' was presented as part of the Spanish-language film cycle in Kiev. At the end of the documentary, the audience offered applause for the Cuban people and the doctors who treated over 24,000 Ukrainian children.