Madrid/This Wednesday, Santiago de Cuba received a third shipment of humanitarian aid from the United States for those affected by Hurricane Melissa in the east of the country, according to reported the Catholic organization Caritas.
The shipment, which arrived accompanied by two representatives of the archdiocese of Miami: Joaquín Espino, rector of the Hermitage of Charity, and Sister Eva Puelles, nun of the Daughters of Charity, is made up of 648 lots of food and 510 of hygiene, which will be distributed by Cáritas in the community of San José.
The donation will be delivered “gradually by the parish team and volunteers” accompanied once again by the American international agency Catholic Relief Services (an organization founded by US Catholics) and Caritas Germany.
According to the Cáritas note, the donations will be delivered “to people who have been previously identified”, according to “their vulnerabilities” and with priority for families made up of single mothers with small children, older adults, as well as people with disabilities and reduced or no mobility.
/ Caritas Cuba
“This protocol, applied with strict adherence to humanitarian principles and Caritas’ international safeguarding policy, is the bridge that turns generosity into concrete hope and the guarantee that Christian values of brotherhood and love of neighbor prevail,” the statement underlines.
The past 14 and January 16 The first shipments of humanitarian aid from the US Government arrived in Cuba – for a total value of 3 million dollars – which were delivered by Cáritas to communities in the provinces of Holguín and Santiago, two of the five eastern regions most affected by the scourge of Melissa.
The shipments have included rice, beans, oils, sugar, water purification tablets, pots, kitchen utensils, blankets and flashlights.
The donation has been a new point of clash between the Governments of both countries. When in October the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced the sending of humanitarian aid to the Cuban people to prevent it from being controlled by the Cuban authorities, the regime reproached him for trying to evade official channels in a kind of “political opportunism.”
The Catholic Church offered itself as a neutral channel to channel aid, a proposal that offered a solution for some, while others considered that the institution is too linked to the ruling party.
When the first batch arrives, Cuban authorities regretted that, after so much time, they would have learned precisely from the Church of the arrival of the shipment, without official communication from the United States. However, he said that he would accept the help, as it was a donation from the American people as taxpayers through their taxes.
This Wednesday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced a new donation also aimed at those affected by the hurricane, whose total value is 1.2 million euros. In a press release in which it takes stock of the coordinated response given after Melissa, the organization adds that “additional resources have been mobilized thanks to the contribution of three international donors.
/ OPS
The majority comes from the European Union through its humanitarian aid agency (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations-ECHO), with 700,000 euros approved for the rehabilitation of affected health institutions, the strengthening of epidemiological surveillance and the acquisition of medicines, diagnostic supplies, vector control equipment and means to ensure safe water and the functional recovery of services.
Additionally, the Korean Government has provided $300,000 for generators, emergency kits and hygiene supplies to restore essential services and prevent infectious diseases. Finally, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided $300,000 for the purchase of emergency supplies, rapid tests for communicable diseases and equipment for vector control actions.
“During the last quarter of 2025, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) accompanied the country’s response to the effects caused by Hurricane Melissa, in a context that was also marked by a simultaneous outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. To respond to Melissa, more than 11 tons of essential medical supplies were sent from the PAHO Strategic Reserve in Panama; several evaluation visits were made to the field and work was done with different partners to expand the scope of aid. Three months after the event, the execution of recovery actions supported by partners continues, and this will be the case for the next six months,” the note adds.
