The EFE agency reveals that Havana camouflaged a request for help for the arbovirus epidemic in its request for international resources for the ravages of Melissa.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Government incorporated materials to confront the chikungunya and dengue epidemic within an international request for help due to the ravages of Hurricane Melissa “without specifying its real objective,” according to documents to which the EFE agency had access.
According to this information, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) sent some embassies and United Nations agencies a list of needs that included large volumes of chemicals to combat mosquitoes, the vector of both diseases.
The list, titled “Main needs for the National Health Service to confront Hurricane Melissa,” is dated October 27, “right in the peak week of the epidemic,” although the Government only classified the outbreak as an “epidemic” 17 days later.
In the “Hygiene and epidemiology” section, the MINSAP included “200 tons of the 1% abate larvicide and 40 tons of the 25% cypermethrin insecticide,” amounts that independent experts consulted by EFE considered “very high” and more typical of a national campaign than containing outbreaks after a hurricane.
The Cuban regime has not formally declared a health emergency despite the hospital crisis throughout the country, the more than 70,000 cases of dengue and chikungunya reported and the 52 deathsmostly minors, recognized by MINSAP itself until this Wednesday, December 17.
EFE specified that it contacted the Cuban Government and requested an interview with a MINSAP official to inquire about the list, but did not receive any response, at least until the time of its report. Furthermore, he considered that no country or multilateral agency seemed to have “attended” the request “at this specific point.”
Opacity of humanitarian aid due to Hurricane Melissa
Already CubaNetin his report in progress “Reaching and giving? X-ray of the humanitarian aid sent to Cuba after Melissa”had referred to the opacity of the information about the sources of humanitarian aid sent to the Island after the impact of the meteor, which crossed the eastern region of the Island on October 29.
The investigation maintains that “Havana has presented as donations related to the disaster caused by Melissa aid received previously or for other purposes,” especially in the cases of Vietnam, China, Russia and Qatar.
With respect to Vietnam, for example, Cubadebate announced on October 19, 10 days before Melissa made landfall, the end of the “65 years of Vietnam – Cuba solidarity” program, through which 23.3 million dollars were raised to send to the Government of the Island as a show of solidarity.
In that sense, the report of CubaNet points out that “this – presenting the donation as part of the recovery efforts after the catastrophe – diluted 23.3 million dollars in the recovery of the East, the final destination of which will be very difficult to trace.”
In the case of China, transcended the donation of 5,000 solar panels “to electrify isolated rural homes.” Although this is how he presented it Cubadebatethe Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, had linked the donation to the impact of Hurricane Melissa in the eastern region. “This aid will provide stable and clean energy support for post-disaster recovery, accelerating the restoration of normality,” said the diplomat, who insisted that the teams would bring “hope and encouragement to those affected.”
CubaNet He also alluded to the case of Russia, whose government announced a credit of 60 million dollars that has been presented since November 2024 as “emergency aid” and as a response to the energy crisis aggravated by hurricanes Oscar and Rafael. Then, after Melissa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) of Cuba included Russia in the list of countries that sent “humanitarian aid” to the Island (again worth 60 million dollars).
CubaNet concluded that “in all these cases, the State mixes soft loans, previous aid and real donations in the same story of ‘humanitarian aid’, without clarifying what corresponds to the recovery after Melissa and what does not”, which, according to the text, would allow that “millions of dollars could be ‘lost’ without any accountability.”
