According to the head of collaboration of the international relations department at the MINSAP, Yilian Jiménez, Cuba has never denied access to solidarity groups to health institutions and Professor Carlos Lazo himself has documentary evidence of the delivery of donations.
The official explained the issue in light of recent statements on digital social networks by Professor Carlos Lazo, a Cuban resident in the United States and founder of the Factory of Dreams project and the Bridges of Love Caravan, about the difficulties faced by his group when it comes to deliver the donations to Cuban hospitals directly.
“It is not true that he has been prohibited from entering health institutions; he has done so all this time,” the official told Cubadebate’s website.
She explained that if Professor Lazo was unable to visit an institution it was because his visit was without prior notice, “looking for a last-minute ticket, and it is not always possible to get to the institutions so as not to interrupt healthcare processes.”
Given this scenario, the MINSAP representative recommended that these visits be organized and with prior notice, “without bureaucracy, because from MINSAP we work so that this help, so necessary for this people, arrives immediately and as soon as possible.”
She also commented that in “difficult logistical conditions, these deliveries are made possible so that the donations arrive, despite the shortage of fuel.”
Jiménez said that she received “with astonishment and sadness the ‘statements and clarifications’ of Professor Carlos Lazo on the arrival of the donations in Cuba and their exchange with Cuban authorities.
“As part of this people and an official of the Ministry of Public Health, I first want to thank the ongoing help that he has provided to our institutions, especially to the pediatric ones, which together with other friends of solidarity in the United States, work with us,” she stressed.
On the other hand, she highlighted the contributions of other solidarity entities such as the José Martí Cultural Association, as well as those of Aurora and Nachito Herrera. In addition, she pointed out, there are Cubans in Canada and Spain who send “continuously and systematically, and often anonymously, help to our country.”
“In such difficult times due to the tightening of the blockade and the limitations in our health system, the demonstrations of global solidarity from many friends, from NGOs and governments to religious institutions, are growing,” the official concluded.
On Thursday, in a message on his Facebook profile, Carlos Lazo wrote that he had been prevented from making direct deliveries of donations of powdered milk, medicines or medical supplies to hospitals, as had been happening until a few months ago.
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