Cuba Attends Virtual Parliamentary Meeting on COVID-19 Pandemic

Ana María Mari Machado, vice president of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP), on Thursday presented the Cuban experience in dealing with the novel coronavirus during a virtual meeting which brought together parliamentary leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the forum, summoned by the presidents of the Chambers of Deputies from Mexico and Argentina with the aim of sharing experiences, measures and proposals related to the health emergency and its economic impact, Mari Machado said that “for Cuba the challenge has been enormous”.

The Cuban deputy explained that before the pandemic, the island was already facing a brutal intensification of the genocidal blockade of the United States, and that even now, this unilateral policy continues to limit access to equipment, drugs, medical devices, and technologies related to COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment.

However, it has been possible to fight the disease with the political will of the country’s leadership and with permanent unity and dialogue between the people, the civil society, the institutions and the government, she said.

Mari Machado ratified the determination of the Cuban government to continue collaborating with the countries in need, and urged “to share what we have, to support each other and to learn from successful experiences to face this immense challenge”. She also referred to the role of parliamentarians in the regional and global efforts to address this pandemic and its effects.

The virtual working meeting was also attended by parliamentary leaders from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominica, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru, as well as representatives from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.

Source: http://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu

Translation: Escambray