Health, music, sports . . . Barbados and Cuba deepen ties

Cuban Ambassador to Barbados Sergio de Jesús Jorge Pastrana is proud that he is part of a nation offering Barbados help in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

Moreover, he said, the 101 Cuban nurses who are on the frontline in Bridgetown are upbeat about providing the assistance as they try to soak up what little experience of the island they are able to get.

A team of 95 women and six men, which form part of the Henry Reeve Brigade, which was created in 2005 to respond to medical emergencies, arrived in Bridgetown on April 5, 2020 to work with local officials to administer treatment to COVID-19 patients.

Some 6,005 tests for the virus have been carried out in Barbados as at June 8. Since the outbreak of the pandemic here on March 16, 92 people have tested positive, 81 have recovered and there have been seven deaths.

Pastrana said from the moment the medical team arrived in Bridgetown on April 5, they have been beaming with excitement. “Everybody is very happy,” he said.

Barbados TODAY was unable to see and speak with the nurses, but speaking on their behalf, Pastrana said they are loving the experience they are having in Barbados so far, adding that they were from “a very similar environment”.

He said like him, the medical team was especially pleased about the quarantine and isolation Harrison’s Point, St Lucy facility, describing it as first-class with “excellent working conditions”.

“It has been two months away from their families but they talk every day. The pride of working as part of this international effort of COVID-19 supports their strength in dealing with it, and they are provided with very safe conditions to work so there is no worry. It is part of the training of being a nurse. So they are happy,” said Pastrana.

He said even prior to the arrival of the group he was astounded by the high standards that were put in place.

Pastrana said the medical team was even more elated and somewhat amazed at the “level of congeniality” of the Barbadian public towards them upon their arrival.

“They were astonished that people stopped their cars to applaud them when they arrived. And as they started coming out to do errands, they were received everywhere,” said Pastrana, who added that the patients have also been very accepting and thankful.

Pastrana said the Spanish-speaking nurses, several of whom have worked in other countries, have been coping well in Barbados. He said their biggest hurdle was speaking fluent English and fully understanding the Bajan dialect.

“I always say they are in a fast learning curve of two languages, and I love both – English and Bajan – because it is not the same thing. Even if you are trained in an English-speaking country and come here you say ‘what’?” he quipped. “They are doing their best to accommodate the language barrier,” he added.

While pointing to a friendship between Havana and Bridgetown dating back more than a century, Pastrana said he believed the Spanish-speaking nation was in a good position to continue to provide assistance to the region.

There are about nine doctors per 1,000 individuals in Cuba, which has a population of almost 11.4 million people.

During the outbreak of the pandemic, several Caribbean countries requested and received medical assistance from Cuba in the form of nurses and medical specialists.

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we had the conditions to face the pandemic, that we could solve the problem locally, and that we have enough nurses and doctors to provide them to other countries,” said the Cuban Ambassador.

Pastrana believed Barbados and the rest of the region could do with the help of even more medical professionals from Cuba in coming years, especially in specialized areas.

“It depends on the availability of the resources and the interest and need,” he said.

Pointing to the continuous shortage of nurses in the region, he said Cuba recognized this many years ago and the conversation of countries getting help from that nation has come up “many times”.

The Cuban Ambassador was full of praises for Barbados and the rest of the region for taking early steps to safeguard the population against a full onslaught of the coronavirus.

“It was very brave of our countries from very early on to take a hard step against it. Other countries decided to wait,” he said in reference to the closure of the ports of entry to passengers.

Pastrana believes, at some point, a lot more people would become infected with the virus as officials work on a cure and learn more about it. But he stresses that social distancing and the wearing of masks were “here to stay”, at least for the foreseeable future.

Pastrana, who was appointed Cuban Ambassador to Barbados more than a year ago, said he would be doing all he could to ensure that Barbados receives the necessary assistance it requires in the area of health care.

Additionally, he is hoping that during his tenure he would help to deepen existing ties between Bridgetown and Havana and create new opportunities from which both countries would benefit.

Pointing to similarities between the two nations and decades-old co-operation and bilateral agreements, Pastrana said he believed there was room for bolstering ties in the areas of medicine, culture, entertainment and sport. This, he said, could be linked to the critical tourism industry.

“You have tourists that come only for the beach and sun, which is spectacular, but it is not enough. You have to increase the value of that with the cultural experience. If you provide venues and activities built on sports and culture, that can help to increase the visitor experience. This is something we should work on trying to strengthen in Barbados with the help of the Cuban experience,” he said.

“Our music, both Bajan and Cuban, is [popular] the world over. We must take those strengths and make them support our countries’ full economy and diversify,” he insisted. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb