Rice promised for Cubans affected by Hurricane Melissa in Holguín

More than 140,000 people affected by Hurricane Melissa in Holguín would benefit from a shipment of rice that was being unloaded since last Thursday

"In Holguín, the unloading of 2,666 metric tons of rice continues, aimed at supporting the delivery of the food module from the World Food Programme (rice, grains, and oil)," the Cuban Ministry of Domestic Trade reported on Facebook.

The shipment is part of the 24,600 tons of rice donated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea to the World Food Program (WFP) of the UN in Cuba, the information specifies.

The donation, the first part of which arrived in Cuba in December 2025, aims to support vulnerable individuals and pregnant women for a year.

Last November, it was reported that the United Nations would seek to raise $74.2 million to assist one million people affected by Hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba, where the storm caused severe damage to homes, infrastructure, basic services, and crops.

The hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 29 in the municipality of Guamá, in Santiago de Cuba, as a Category 3 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds of up to 195 kilometers per hour.

For more than six hours,  the meteor struck five eastern provinces, leaving behind a trail of destruction and affecting more than three million people due to power outages, flooding, and structural damage.

In the midst of a persistent crisis recently worsened by the U.S. oil blockade, the Cuban people survive on donations and humanitarian aid.

Countries like Mexico, China, and the United States, as well as international organizations, provide humanitarian aid to a government that on its own appears unable to support its population.