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Two flights from Miami landed this week at the airport in Santiago de Cuba with 1,900 kits of food and hygiene products donated by the United States government, according to a report by Cáritas Cuba on its official website.
The first of the planes arrived on Tuesday and the second on Thursday, thus completing the final leg of the first U.S. donation of 3 million dollars announced in November 2025 after Hurricane Melissa passed through eastern Cuba.
Assistance will be distributed by parish volunteers, priests, diocesan teams, and religious members among families in vulnerable situations in the province of Santiago de Cuba affected by the cyclone.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 29, 2025, in the Guamá area of Santiago de Cuba, as a category 3 hurricane, causing devastation to homes, hospitals, and infrastructure, and forcing the evacuation of about 735,000 people in the eastern part of the island.
Washington conditioned all aid from the beginning to be distributed exclusively by the Catholic Church and Cáritas Cuba, without the mediation of the Cuban government, a model supported by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The distribution began on January 14, 2026, with the first cargo flight to Holguín airport, and since then, assistance has also arrived by sea: a ship with seven containers docked in Santiago de Cuba in February, and five additional containers arrived in April with over 3,500 modules of food, hygiene products, and household items.
As of May 8, Cáritas Cuba reported having executed 82% of the first donation, with the remaining 18% expected this month, benefiting 8,800 families in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Tunas, Bayamo, and Guantánamo.
The Cuban regime, in contrast, publicly downplayed the assistance. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío described it as "individual bags of food and hygiene products", along with other materials that, in his words, "are always appreciated."
The United States has already increased its commitment by an additional 6 million dollars, bringing the total committed to 9 million, while Rubio has offered up to 100 million dollars conditioned on distribution being carried out through non-governmental organizations or religious entities independent of the Cuban state.
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