This Wednesday, the United States Government sent the first shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba for families affected by Hurricane Melissa.
MIAMI, United States. — Acting Deputy Secretary of State of the United States Jeremy Lewin and the head of the US mission in Havana, Mike Hammerthey insisted this Wednesday, in a press conference held in Miami, which humanitarian aid sent to families affected by Hurricane Melissa in Cubawill be distributed through the channels of the Catholic Church, “outside the Government”, and that its expansion will be subject to the regime not interfering or diverting assistance.
Lewin framed the shipment as part of a strategy that, he stated, seeks to reach “the people of Cuba directly” without benefiting the Cuban State. “[Se busca] establish a mechanism that is outside the Government. Obviously our law and the policy signed by the president [Donald Trump] is that there is no assistance from the United States or support for the Cuban regime, that illegitimate regime,” he said.
The official presented the first dispatches as a test of operation and control: “These first flights are a test. We are going to be watching to make sure that there is no interference, that the Cuban regime does not try to interfere with this assistance. If this channel works, we hope to repeat it in the coming weeks and months,” he stated.
In his speech, Lewin expanded the political argument of the operation by contrasting the natural disaster with the internal deterioration of the Island: “Although the hurricane is an act of God, the humanitarian crisis in Cuba is really an act of man,” he maintained, and attributed it to the inability of the State to “offer its own people (…) an economy that works.” He also stated that “the Cuban regime has a choice” between “protecting its people” or continuing “on the path (…) of repression and tyranny.”
Hammer, for his part, focused on the operational and supervision component, with emphasis on controlling the final destination of the supplies. He assured that personnel from the United States Embassy in Havana were in Holguín, where the first flight with humanitarian aid arrived, with the mission of “monitoring and ensuring that aid reaches those most in need.”
In the same sense, he conditioned the continuity of the program on the deliveries arriving without deviations: “If this goes as it should and if the deliveries reach the people of Cuba, the Administration is prepared to continue providing humanitarian aid, much needed to alleviate suffering,” he stated. Then he assured: “There is no trust, we are only focused on verifying.”
Later, he mentioned that after the flight to Holguín this Wednesday there would be another to Santiago de Cuba next Friday and a new shipment by sea.
The diplomat maintained that Hurricane Melissa aggravated previous shortcomings, especially in the east. “When I have gone to Guantánamo, Granma, Holguín (…) and Santiago (…) it is very clear that there were needs before the hurricane,” he stated. “Conditions have worsened and will continue to be very difficult for some time,” he said.
In this context, he described the figure announced by Washington as significant: “We must understand that this is extremely important; these three million that the United States Government is offering is much-needed help.”
Both officials agreed on assigning the Catholic Church a central role in the aid delivery channel. Lewin stressed that they work with an institution that “has the access and legitimacy to be able to reach the people directly,” while Hammer said he admires “the work that the Church does” because, as he stated, “it tries to feed the people” and “provide medicine in all the provinces (…) for so many Cubans who are struggling.”
