 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
'Humiliating' treatment by Chinese officials: returned Mexicans
Mexico City (AFP) May 6, 2009 Some of 136 Mexicans repatriated from China Wednesday spoke of "discrimination" by Chinese officials who feared they could be carriers of the swine flu virus despite showing no symptoms. "In my case there was discrimination and humiliation," said Myrna Berlanga, one of five repatriated Mexicans who gave a news conference. She complained of the way the Chinese "took us off the plane and the way they took us away without saying a word to us even though none of us were sick or had a temperature." She and other Mexicans were thrown into involuntary isolation last week while visiting China. They returned to Mexico early Wednesday on a flight chartered by the Mexican government. China sent its own chartered jet to pick up 98 Chinese stranded in Mexico after it suspended all flights from the Latin American nation. Those Chinese, plus the plane's crew, were immediately thrown into quarantine on their return. China's actions towards arriving Mexicans has riled the Mexican government, which has described it as "unjustified." It said its citizens were being seized regardless of whether they were showing any flu symptoms or whether they had flown in from a flu-affected country. Mexico is the epicenter of the global flu crisis, having recorded 42 deaths and more than 1,000 infections from the H1N1 virus, which it said was now contained. One Mexican man who flew into Hong Kong and was the only confirmed swine flu infection in China did not return with his compatriots. China -- which is still traumatized from the 2003 SARS epidemic that originated on its territory and killed 800 people -- has denied any discrimination against Mexicans. Officials there have also confined more than 20 Canadian language students in the northeastern city of Changchun. Although none of the students have shown signs of flu, their country has recorded 165 infections of the H1N1 flu virus. Berlanga said officials in Beijing separated her and all other Mexican passport holders arriving on a plane from the United States and kept them confined for four hours before transferring them to a hotel for a week-long quarantine. "They took me off (the plane) just because of my passport. They didn't check my temperature," she said. Others repatriated also recounted cases. "One woman was hospitalized with three children. The hospital they were locked up in was horrible. Everything was dirty, full of blood. The (Mexican) consul wasn't allowed to go in," said Rosa Martha Garcia, a Mexican woman held in Shanghai. Garcia said, however, in her case she was not ill-treated. Another returnee, Alberto Villas, said: "The (Chinese) people themselves are fine, but the government was being difficult and was very frightened by a type of disease it suffered itself just six years ago." Other passengers agreed they were well treated. "They treated us wonderfully. They went to a lot of effort," said Oscar Fernandez, who had been confined for four days in the city of Guangzhou. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola
As flu fears ease, Mexico gets ready to re-open
Mexico City (AFP) May 6, 2009Mexico emerged Wednesday from a five-day lockdown, reopening businesses and restaurants shuttered by swine flu, as a second death from the virus was recorded over the border in the United States. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook