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A new shipment of humanitarian aid arrived at the international airport of Santiago de Cuba, channeled by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and distributed by the Caritas Cuba network, to benefit 600 families in the diocese of Santiago de Cuba affected by Hurricane Melissa.
According to the website of the organization, the goods consist of modules with food and hygiene supplies, prioritizing elderly individuals, single mothers with children, and people with disabilities or limited mobility.
The next shipment of this program is intended for another 600 families in the diocese of Holguín-Las Tunas.
Cáritas Cuba described CRS as a "sister organization always ready to serve in charity" and expressed gratitude for "the generosity of the institution and donors committed to the most vulnerable individuals affected by the storm Melissa."
This donation is part of the humanitarian response organized by the Catholic Church since January 2026 to assist the victims of the cyclone, which made landfall on October 29, 2025, in Playa El Francés, Guamá municipality, Santiago de Cuba, as a category 3 with winds reaching up to 195 km/h.
The hurricane struck the eastern region for approximately six hours, affecting the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas.
More than 735,000 people were evacuated and over 160,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, with 116,000 of them located in the eastern part of the country.
The UN up to 1.7 million people affected and requested $74.2 million for emergency response.
The distribution of international aid through the Catholic Church, without the mediation of the Cuban State, represented an unprecedented event in the modern history of Cuba.
The United States government committed $9 million in humanitarian assistance: $3 million in November 2025 and an additional $6 million announced on February 5, 2026, by the State Department.
CRS, which has been operating in Cuba since 1993 and has distributed over 32 million dollars in medical supplies on the island, acts as a channeling organization.
Cáritas Cuba, with more than 40 employees and a network of approximately 12,000 volunteers, carries out the distribution in parishes and dioceses of the four eastern dioceses benefited: Santiago de Cuba, Holguín-Las Tunas, Bayamo-Manzanillo, and Guantánamo-Baracoa.
The Cuban regime criticized this mechanism in January 2026, denouncing "opportunistic motives" in the direct distribution by the Church, while communities such as El Cobre—where 90% of the population was affected—continue to report conditions of neglect months after the impact.
The overall program aims to benefit approximately 6,000 vulnerable families in the four eastern dioceses, as part of a response that remains active nearly five months after the cyclone's passage.
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