Sanctions should not impede coronavirus fight, EU diplomat says
Josep Borrell backs UN call for global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on pandemic
Damien Gayle
@damiengayle
Sat 4 Apr 2020 06.21 EDT
Sanctions should not stop the delivery of medical equipment and supplies to countries trying to contain outbreaks of coronavirus, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, made his comments in a declaration on Friday in which he backed the UN’s call for an immediate global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on the pandemic.
. . .
Borrell’s comments came after the US ignored calls to suspend its sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, and after Cuban officials said the six-decade US embargo of their country had blocked a shipment of coronavirus aid from Asia’s richest man, Jack Ma.
Ma, the Chinese founder of the wholesale website Alibaba, had tried to send face masks, coronavirus rapid test kits and ventilators to Cuba through his foundation, but the shipment was blocked at the last minute after the air freight carrier hired to take it pulled out.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/sanctions-should-not-impede-coronavirus-fight-josep-borrell-eu
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