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“It is a humanitarian crisis created by the incompetence and repression of the Cuban regime.” With these words, Jeremy P. Lewin, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for External Affairs, Humanitarian Assistance, and Religious Freedom, described the current situation on the island during a press briefing held by the State Department on January 15.
The official announced the start of the first shipments of direct humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, valued at three million dollars, as part of the commitment made by the administration of President Donald Trump following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
The assistance is being channeled through the Catholic Church and Caritas Cuba, with the aim of preventing any benefit to the Cuban government.
“We are grateful to the Church and Cáritas Cuba for taking on this risk. In the past, the regime has prevented attempts to distribute aid, but this time we hope it will allow it to reach those in need directly,” Lewin stated.
“The hurricane is just a small part of a larger humanitarian crisis, caused by the incompetence and repression of the regime,” he added.
The senior U.S. official reiterated that Washington's commitment is to the Cuban people, not to their government. “The regime may interfere, steal, and divert those supplies, but if it does, it will have to answer to its own people and to us,” he warned.
Lewin recalled that the Trump administration seeks to establish a "new path" of direct assistance, independent of the Cuban state apparatus, and that the continuation of aid will depend on the regime's behavior.
"If this works, we will be able to increase the assistance. But none of this government's aid will go to the Cuban regime. None of this assistance will benefit the regime, either directly or indirectly," he insisted.
When asked about the halt of Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, the undersecretary dismissed any contradiction between that measure and the provision of humanitarian aid.
"The Venezuelan oil did not benefit the Cuban people. It was an illegitimate payment from Maduro's regime to its protectors in Havana," he explained.
According to Lewin, the Cuban humanitarian crisis "has nothing to do with sanctions or the lack of oil, but rather with a political and economic system that has failed for six decades."
The first shipment of aid has arrived in Holguín via charter flights organized by a contractor from the Department of State. Additional deliveries will be made by sea to various provinces.
The packages contain staple foods such as rice, beans, pasta, and canned goods, which will be distributed directly by Cáritas Cuba.
“There is nothing political about cans of tuna or bags of rice,” Lewin responded in response to accusations from the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, who characterized the aid as an “opportunistic gesture” amidst the national crisis.
"The only ones politicizing this are those from the regime, who cannot admit their failure to provide for their own people," the official replied.
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