US Thanks Cuba for Gesture on Haiti

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Jan. 16 – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has thanked the Cuban government for the opening of its airspace to aircraft with emergency and health evacuation missions from Haiti, devastated by the January 12 earthquake in Port au Prince.

In a press conference in Washington, the Secretary of State welcomed any future action by the island in support of Haiti’s  recovery.

For several years Cuba already had over 400 doctors and other health staff working in Haiti, and with reinforcements arriving from a special emergency service brigade, the island is the main health care provider facing up to the crisis.

For a Cuban press testimony on the ground in Port au Prince click here.

Clinton has been steadfastly opposed to improved relations between the US and Cuba and favors maintaining the nearly half-century US economic blockade on the island.  The Secretary of State is also a supporter of the travel ban that prohibits ordinary US citizens from visiting Cuba.