Cuban-Americans send medical supplies to Cuba

A shipment of medical supplies sent by Cuban-American businessmen and politicians valued at nearly $100,000 arrived in Havana on Thursday, an unusual delivery in the framework of Washington's current radical policy against the island.More than a hundred packages wrapped in red and blue plastic arrived at the airport where they were received by the director of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Diseases (IPK), Manuel Romero and Yanet Stable, from Cuba’s foreign ministry.

Protective masks, biosecurity suits, gowns, and other medical and health supplies made up the donation.One of the organizers of the shipment was Joe Garcia, a former congressman and former director of the Cuban-American National Foundation, an organization that for years had difficult relations with the Cuban government and has been accused of financing attempts to overthrow the revolution. But García, who was born in Florida to Cuban parents, was satisfied that this time the differences had been overcome.

Cuba has achieved reasonable control of the pandemic through an active health programme of house-to-house visits and compulsory quarantines.For months Cuba closed its commercial flights, and social and economic life came to a standstill.The island began a gradual reopening from November.As of Thursday, 9,181 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed, of which 136 people had died.

(Image Credit: AP)