US: San Francisco Lawmakers Call On Cooperation With Cuba

U.S. San Francisco City and County Supervisors Board Tuesday approved bill N° 200773 that allows medical and scientific cooperation with Cuba.

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"The country of Cuba has a long history of providing international medical aid to other countries with many of its medical personnel directly involved in the fight against COVID-19 as members of the specially trained Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics," the bill states.

For the bill's presentation, San Francisco supervisors Hillary Ronen, Aaron Peskin, and Shamann Walton also augmented the island's role in Ebola fighting in Africa, as well as Cuba's pandemic management.

In May, Minnesota state lawmakers also introduced a bill to ensure medical cooperation with Cuba on the early pandemic.  Richmond and Berkeley's cities also established mutual aid projects with the island.

 "The San Francisco Board of Supervisors encourages the San Francisco Department of Public Health to explore collaborations with Cuba to jointly face the COVID-19 pandemic, including initiating knowledge transfer about Cuba's highly successful public health prevention methods, methods for preventing infection of health workers, and innovative treatments now being used in China and elsewhere," the legislators added. 

The Board also stressed Cuba's accomplishments in the pharmaceutical industry despite the economic limitations because of the U.S blockade, with promising meds like Interferon Alfa 2b.

Cuba's ambassador to the U.S. Jose Ramon Cabañas acknowledged the resolution as a way to enhance bilateral relations.