Weyburn resident calls for action as Cuban humanitarian crisis grounds Canadian flights

The escalating humanitarian crisis in Cuba is hitting close to home for one Weyburn resident, whose efforts to bring essential supplies to her family have been halted by widespread flight cancellations.

Earlier this month, major Canadian airlines, including Sunwing, WestJet, and Air Canada, began winding down their winter operations to Cuba. The cancellations follow warnings from Cuban officials that the country’s airports are running out of aviation fuel.

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The fuel shortage is part of a severe, ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation, exacerbated by a recent U.S. blockade on oil shipments. Residents are currently facing extended power blackouts, as well as a lack of food, water, and medicine.

For Weyburn’s Kerri Arnott Thirsk, the flight suspensions mean a delay in delivering crucial aid to her sister’s Cuban family in Varadero. Thirsk was booked on a Sunwing flight that was recently cancelled just seven weeks ahead of departure.

“Cuba isn’t just a vacation destination (for us),” Thirsk said. “It’s about taking our family the supplies that they rely on. When we go, we take basic necessities that people here take for granted, like medicine, hygiene products, vitamins, pain relievers. Those kinds of items are extremely difficult to access in Cuba.”

While her family in the tourist-heavy area of Varadero is managing for now, Thirsk noted that the situation across the country is dire. The pandemic and subsequent economic fallout have made U.S. currency a necessity for basic survival.

“When tourists come, they do bring U.S. dollars, and that would enable them … to go into the stores and purchase the items they need,” Thirsk explained. “There’s unfortunately a large black market where if they have U.S. dollars, they can often get a little something of what they need.”

Thirsk is now urging Canadians to speak up and contact their elected officials to advocate for the Cuban people. She encourages residents to write their member of Parliament, the prime minister and the foreign affairs minister. She also emphasizes that any political changes should be driven by the Cuban people themselves, noting that foreign interference often causes the Cuban government to dig in their heels even more. Thirsk added that ordinary families are the ones who ultimately suffer the most from these international disputes.

Thirsk hopes her family might be able to travel to Cuba in the fall when flights potentially resume.