Slight possibility of a flight from Cuba soon – Foreign Affairs official

Stranded Linden family

…as Guyana’s embassy in Cuba seeking to help family

Efforts are presently being made to secure seats on a flight back to Guyana for the Jacobis family of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), who were stranded in Cuba due to airport closure and flight suspensions. Orville and Latoya Jacobis had travelled to the location to facilitate their two-year-old son’s urgent heart surgery, which has since been successful.

The family has since been in contact with Guyana’s embassy in Cuba and officials have indicated that Orville Jacobis would have reached out and time was spent trying to get him a flight out of Cuba. Orville Jacobis was initially slated to travel back home two Saturdays ago, while his wife and son were expected to travel last Saturday.
“But the plain fact is that there are no CAL flights currently – and COPA has reduced its 21 flights to Cuba to three per week. COPA’s focus is to get the passengers that travelled with their airline back to their country of origin,” the Foreign Affairs official told this publication.
The official noted too that the Foreign Affairs Ministry would have been notified about the facts surrounding the Jacobis family’s plight in Cuba. The official added that they were told, upon enquiring, that the child was not formally discharged from the hospital as yet and that he would officially be discharged on Monday, January 11. However, the child’s mother informed this publication on Friday that her son has been discharged. She noted that the official was not yet informed of this development. She promised to do so at the soonest.
The official had further indicated that on Friday, enquiries were made from CAL and COPA Airlines regarding the possibility of getting the family out of Cuba, but noted that the response was that this was not possible at the time.
“The CAL representative explained that there is a very slight possibility that there could be a flight from Havana during next week (this week). COPA pointed out that a flight is expected out of Cuba on January 19 and possibly on January 26, 2021,” the official said, as they noted that this was communicated with a representative from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Meanwhile, the couple has indicated that their major priority is to get back home to the rest of their children. The family had initially raised the $5 million cost for the surgery, through the help of public and other donations which they have since expressed gratitude for.