| | |  Travel & Outdoors | May 2009 
Cuba Lifts Flu-Related Ban on Mexico Flights
 Jeff Franks - Reuters
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Havana - The Cuban government said on Friday it would lift a suspension on Mexico flights imposed since April 30, saying the flu threat that prompted the ban had eased.
Flights between the two countries could be resumed on June 1, the government's Ministry of Public Health said in a statement published in Granma, the ruling Communist Party's newspaper.
Cuba stopped Mexico flights to prevent the H1N1 flu virus that has killed 95 people in Mexico from reaching the Caribbean island 115 miles (185 kilometers) across the Yucatan Channel.
So far, the Cuban government has reported only four confirmed cases of the illness also known as swine flu.
Three of the afflicted were Mexicans studying medicine in Cuba who had recently returned from trips home. The fourth was a 14-month-old Canadian boy brought to Cuba from Toronto by his parents.
The Cuban government has said all four had received treatment and were doing well.
Cuba's decision to stop the flights touched off a diplomatic spat when Mexican President Felipe Calderon, angered by the action, threatened to put off a planned trip to Cuba.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro charged that Calderon delayed telling the world about the flu outbreak because he did not want U.S. President Barack Obama to cancel his mid-April visit to Mexico.
Calderon denied the accusation, and his foreign minister said Castro's comments had strained Cuba-Mexico relations.
There are usually at least five scheduled flights daily between the two countries, flown by Mexicana Airlines and state-run Cubana Airlines.
(Editing by Philip Barbara) |
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