Josefina Vidal

Josefina Vidal Ferreiro a (born 18 February 1961) has been the Cuban Ambassador to Canada since March 28, 2018. Before that, she was director general of the North American Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.



Quotes

 * Aggression, pressure, conditions, impositions do not work with Cuba. This is not the way to attempt to have even a minimally civilised relationship with Cuba...There are also other functionaries, businessmen, that Trump has named, including in government roles, who are in favour of business with Cuba, people who think that the US will benefit from cooperation with Cuba, on issues linked to the national security of the US...These last two years show that many good things have been done not only for Cubans and for the Americans, but for others... Because when Cuba and the US cooperate in confronting drug trafficking, this is an important contribution to the region; or when Cuba and the US cooperate in confronting [viruses such as] zika, dengue and chikungunya, as we have been doing recently, we are making an important contribution to humanity. When Cuba and the US cooperated in Africa to fight Ebola, they made an important contribution to the health of the world.
 * Quoted in Top diplomatic negotiator in Cuba warns Trump: 'aggression doesn't work', Helen Yaffe in Havana and Jonathan Watts, The Guardian (17 Jan 2017)


 * This is a policy which is condemned to be defeated again... They want Cuba to surrender. They want Cuba to abandon what Cuba is, to abandon its principles, and to submit Cuba again to the desires of the U.S. But that won’t happen.... These people are saying we control Venezuela? No... It’s very frustrating that once again they have chosen hostility instead of co-operation
 * Quoted in Trump’s push to make Cuba ‘surrender’ will fail, negotiator says, Stephen Wicary, Bloomberg, (19 April 2019)


 * Cuba's international cooperation does not stop. Today, a brigade made of 20 health professionals left for the British territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands to help fighting COVID19.
 * Twitter, (15 June 2020)


 * As soon as the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Cuba, our country mobilised all its resources to contain the spread of the virus.... Cuba has a long history and tradition of international solidarity with other countries in the health sector that dates back to the 1960s, when we started sending healthcare workers to help other countries... In response to the current pandemic, Cuba has dispatched 28 contingents of the Henry Reeve Brigade to help 26 countries... in addition to the more than 28,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and health professionals who were already overseas before the pandemic. The United States government has been trying to discredit Cuba's international assistance, including using pressure and threats against countries to force them to cancel these medical cooperation agreements. They have even tried to pressure governments to reject Cuba's help during the coronavirus pandemic. They claim the Cuban government is exploiting these doctors because in the case of countries that can afford to provide monetary compensation, a portion of it is kept by the Cuban government.... However, working overseas is completely voluntary, and the portion the Cuban government keeps goes to pay for Cuba's universal health system. It goes to purchasing medical supplies, equipment and medication for Cuba's 11 million people, including for the families of the doctors who are providing their services abroad. This is how we are able to provide free, high-quality healthcare for the Cuban people.
 * Cuba's two pandemics: The coronavirus and the US embargo, by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, AlJazeera, (21 Jun 2020)


 * Instead of exacerbating conflict during a pandemic, our countries need to work together to find solutions... unfortunately, the Trump administration is wasting this opportunity by dismantling the limited progress made by Cuba and the US during the Obama administration... President Trump strengthened the 60-year US blockade against my country, implementing 90 economic measures against Cuba between January 2019 and March 2020 alone. These measures have targeted the main sectors of the Cuban economy, including our financial transactions, tourism industry, energy sector, foreign investments - which are key for the development of the Cuban economy - and the medical cooperation programmes with other countries... These unilateral coercive measures are unprecedented in their level of aggression and scope... In April, the Alibaba Foundation of China tried to donate masks, rapid diagnostic kits and ventilators to Cuba, but the airline contracted by Alibaba to transport those items to Cuba refused to take the goods because they were afraid the US would sanction them... A ship... decided not to unload because... of fear it would be sanctioned by the US government.... It is so important that people of goodwill around the world continue to raise the demand to end the blockade of Cuba and to forcefully assert that these are times for solidarity and cooperation, not sanctions and blockades.
 * Cuba's two pandemics: The coronavirus and the US embargo, by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, AlJazeera, (21 Jun 2020)


 * 34 is the number of countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East that have received the assistance of medical brigades from... Cuba in coping with the #COVID19 pandemic.
 * Twitter (7 July 2020)

About

 * Before being appointed ambassador to Canada, Vidal headed the North America Division at the Cuban Foreign Ministry. She played a crucial role in negotiations between Havana and Washington.. when President Raul Castro and his US counterpart Barack Obama announced their decision to reestablish diplomatic relations between their countries and start a process towards full normalization of links.
 * Josefina Vidal presents diplomatic credentials to Ottawa, Cuba News Agency, (29 March 2018)