US blockade prevents Chinese humanitarian aid from entering Cuba.
The plane carrying medical supplies was a donation from a Chinese businessman, founder of the online sales platform Alibaba.
247 - The Cuban government denounced the cancellation of a flight from China carrying COVID-19 test kits and ventilators to help combat and prevent the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Cuban ambassador in Beijing, Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernández, the materials were to be donated by Jack Ma, founder of the online sales platform Alibaba.
The Chinese businessman had already sent similar shipments to Japan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Iran, Ethiopia, and 23 other Asian countries. However, the shipping company, which was American, refused to deliver the order to the Caribbean island, claiming it was prevented from doing so by the Helms-Burton Act.
US legislation is part of the economic blockade imposed against Cuba since 1962. Created in 1996, during the so-called special period, the law stipulates, among other things, that US vessels arriving at Cuban ports can be fined. In May 2019, the Donald Trump administration activated Volume III, which authorizes the initiation of legal proceedings in the United States against Cuban companies or citizens, according to reports. Opera Mundi.
"The noble efforts of the founder of Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation, which have managed to reach more than 50 countries, have not been able to touch Cuban soil, no matter how necessary these resources may be. Once again, the unjust, arbitrary, and illegal blockade affects everything," stated the Cuban ambassador to China.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez also commented on his Twitter account. "The imperial government's criminal blockade violates the human rights of the Cuban people," he posted.