Coronavirus Could Give Cuba’s Flying Doctors New Wings
But allowing Havana to exploit the virus for hard currency will just empower repression at home.
Nice flags, but how about a bigger paycheck?
Photographer: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images
Like many of its hemispheric neighbors bracing for the coronavirus pandemic, Cuba is in harm’s way. Although the socialist regime boasts world-class physicians and a dedication to health care for all, the reality is more complicated. Covid-19 is anything but an equal opportunity affliction: Companeros with connections or access to dollars have a far better shot at securing medication and loading up on groceries during a lockdown, independent journalist Yoani Sanchez reports.
The island autocracy doesn’t have a vaccine for economic misery wrought by a global health emergency. While the outbreak is still incipient (11 confirmed cases and one death as of March 19), fear of contagion is already hurting tourism, Cuba’s second largest source of foreign exchange. Cuban economist Pavel Vidal, who teaches at Javeriana University, in Cali, Colombia, estimates that tourist arrivals will fall 8% to 12% this year. Prior global disruptions — 9/11, the SARS and swine flu outbreaks — suggest the blow to tourism in Cuba could far outlast the epidemic, dragging on for 16 months to 18 months, Vidal said.