News from Cuba, 16 March 2020 = Cuba gives permission for cruise ship carrying COVID-19 patients to dock citing solidarity and health as a human right
A British cruise ship carrying five passengers who have tested positive for the coronavirus is to dock in Cuba after being turned away by other countries. The MS Braemar, which is carrying six hundred passengers, most of whom are British, had been stranded at sea for two days while trying to find a country which would allow it to dock.
Several other countries and refused permission, causing the British government to request help from Cuba. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement today which said that “Given the urgency of the situation and the risk to the life of sick people, the Cuban government has decided to allow the docking of this ship”.
The passengers will repatriated by air to the UK and their home countries. The Cuban government said: “These are times of solidarity, of understanding health as a human right, of reinforcing international cooperation to face our common challenges, values that are inherent in the humanistic practice of the Revolution and of our people.”
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EMAIL COMMENTS from my PALS
“Thank you Michael for this e mail. It is heartening to realize the human kindness of a nation heretofore considered in a vile fashion by other nations considered “humanistic”…. Dr Cyril Ernst in USA, 17 March 2020
“Very Creditable and an example to most christian countries.” ……. Nihal De Alwis in Nugegoda
Hemingway made this country is home for very good reasons.
Cuba has always offered an alternative narrative and pathway to the rest of the world, which we can well appreciate at such times.