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Guatemala City, Guatemala.- A photograph of the first Cuban doctors and health workers who arrived in Sierra Leone in 2014 to combat Ebola illustrates this Thursday one of the multiple dimensions of Latin America’s global leadership in South-South cooperation.

The photo appears in chapter 3 of the book A Decade of South-South Cooperation in Ibero-America and perpetuates the moment when doctors, regardless of convention, carry boxes of medicines and supplies when they arrived in Freetown airport.

Undoubtedly, one of the most emotive moments of Cuba’s solidarity towards this African people could not be missing from the publication recently presented at the 26th Summit of Heads of State and Government held in the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala, 45 kilometers from this capital.

Cuba, along with countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, are among the leading actors in the horizontal cooperation, whether south-south (SSC) or triangular, considered the last as the most suitable modality for developed countries to join in peer conditions.

The compendium data, considered as the most complete evidence of collective action based on solidarity, place Cuba with 686 projects, 454 as provider, 185 as receptor and 47 in both.

The good practice story in the text summarizes 7,300 program initiatives, experience exchange and the design of solutions adapted to each of the 22 countries that make up Ibero-America.

Social issues, health, industry, productivity, agriculture, governance, environment, transparency, science, technology and innovation highlight the results of a decade of strong and dynamic cooperation reflected in chapters three and four.

The collected information arises from the exhaustive review of the 10 published editions of the SSC report in Ibero-America, a technical and political process, of multilateral construction and always consensual aimed at reporting its evolution within and outside the 22 countries belonging to the community.

Ten detailed cases make up chapter four, an extremely difficult selection to approach the human stories behind the figures.

According to Ibero-American Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan, Ten Decades … ‘is more than a memorial object because we are confident it will be a reference book to understand how the region looks at, understands, drives and is committed to SSC.

This, in the view of Grynspan, is understood as a peace tool and the construction of a coexistence culture and international solidarity.

For Cubans, sharing what they have and not offering what they have left over is part of the humanist ideology behind their project of government and country, despite a severe blockade of almost 60 years by successive U.S. administrations.