Havana/The United States Government will “directly allocate” three million dollars, in coordination with the Catholic Church, to help those affected in Cuba by Hurricane Melissa. The announcement was made this Sunday by the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department through X, where it noted that its “prayers are with the brave Cuban people.”
The message, also replicated by the US Embassy in Havana, indicates that the aid will focus on the inhabitants of the eastern provinces of the Island, those “most affected by the devastation of the hurricane.”
The only reaction of the Cuban regime to this announcement has so far been a cryptic tweet from the chancellor, Bruno Rodríguez, who limits himself to publishing a quote from Fidel Castro: “Because what the imperialists cannot forgive us is that we are here, what the imperialists cannot forgive us is the dignity, fortitude, courage, ideological firmness, the spirit of sacrifice and the revolutionary spirit of the people of Cuba.”
The announcement comes days after exchange of messages between the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío. Last Thursday, the White House official had noted that “the Trump Administration stands in solidarity with the brave Cuban people who continue to fight to meet their basic needs.” In your postadded that the United States was “prepared to provide immediate humanitarian assistance, both directly and through local partners who can most effectively get it to those who need it.”
The White House official had noted that “the Trump Administration stands in solidarity with the brave Cuban people.”
In response, Fernández de Cossío had demanded “precision about how and in what way they are willing to help,” while Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios, the island’s ambassador to the European Union, responded to that tweet that “no handouts or conditions. The international community has overwhelmingly said what they have to do. Nothing more to say,” after the UN vote on the resolution on the US embargo last Wednesday.
However, the route chosen by Washington to send aid puts the Cuban Government on the ropes, due to the intermediation of the Church, an institution with territorial presence and credibility and acceptance among the population.
So far, Havana has not responded through its official channels or any official or ministry. The latest publications have highlighted humanitarian aid shipments from China or collaboration agreements with the United Nations for sustainable development.
This is not the first time that Washington offers help to the Island after the passage of a hurricane. Already in 2012, when Sandy Santiago de Cuba also devastated, a dispute very similar to this one occurred, when the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance made the same offer to send humanitarian assistance outside the Government, an unusual practice that the regime does not consider accepting.
In Granmathe intense rains and the overflowing of dams have flooded large areas of the Cauto River valley
In Granma, intense rains and the overflowing of dams have flooded large areas of the Cauto River valley
For the moment, the consequences are still great in the country, four days after the impact of Melissa. In Granmathe intense rains and the overflowing of dams have flooded large areas of the Cauto River valley, while rescue and evacuation efforts continue in several provinces in the east of the country, as official government accounts have also highlighted.
Likewise, the World Food Program (WFP) informed the EFE agency that it estimates that currently some 700,000 people In Cuba, more than 7% of the population need your help following the passage of the meteor.
Although at the moment there is no preliminary assessment of damage by the Cuban Government and no fatalities have been reported, the Ministry of Construction said on Friday that there were a total of 16,464 homes damaged, of which 1,142 were partially damaged.
The preliminary report, published on state television, added that Melissa left at least 1,318 total home collapses, the loss of 5,279 roofs – completely – and another 8,666 with partial destruction.
