A cargo plane from 7Air took off from Miami International Airport with the first shipment of the 100 million dollars humanitarian aid package that the United States has allocated for the Cuban people.
The inaugural flight carries 700 hygiene kits and 700 food items to Havana, and its departure was preceded by a press conference with U.S. officials in Miami, as confirmed by Café Fuerte.
Who will distribute it?
The State Department specified that the delivery will be coordinated through independent organizations: Catholic Relief Services, Cáritas Cuba, and the Catholic Church in Cuba, without any mediation from the Cuban government.
"This assistance underscores the importance of the United States' sustained commitment to the Cuban people by providing essential humanitarian aid and vital support to those facing an increasing shortage of food, medicine, fuel, and other essential services," stated an official declaration.
Of the total, 60 million will be managed by the Catholic Church, and the remaining 40 million will be handled through highly reliable non-governmental organizations.
It is estimated that the complete package will benefit between 100,000 and 120,000 families across the island.
It denies the reports from Díaz-Canel
The flight this Tuesday directly contradicts the statements that Miguel Díaz-Canel made at the end of June to a Dominican television network, when he asserted that help would not begin until after September and that it would not include food or medicine.
The State Department categorically rejected both assertions:
"That is completely and utterly false. The shipments include food, as was demonstrated during the inspections conducted in the phases of humanitarian aid following Hurricane Melissa."
Díaz-Canel himself had referred to the offer as a "joke," despite the fact that -as he acknowledged- the Cuban government formally accepted the aid in writing.
The regime also rejected the proposal to send reputable organizations to provide medical services on the island.
Background: The previous nine million
This shipment adds to two previous amounts totaling nine million dollars sent since January 2026 in response to Hurricane Melissa, which battered eastern Cuba on October 29, 2025, affecting over three million people.
Cáritas Cuba reported that it has executed 82% of those funds, benefiting around 8,800 families in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Tunas, Bayamo, and Guantánamo.
Diplomatic tension as a backdrop
The flight departs at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Havana.
Just 24 hours earlier, the State Department released the report "Cuba, the Capital of 21st Century Communism", which accuses the regime of nearly seven decades of espionage and subversion in the United States.
This Monday, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, met with the Executive Director of Catholic Relief Services to coordinate direct aid to the Cuban people, "bypassing the greedy and hypocritical communist regime of Havana," he wrote on X.
Díaz-Canel responded to the report this Tuesday, attacking Secretary of State Marco Rubio:
"The thief believes that everyone is of his kind. Nothing could better characterize the report from the State Department against Cuba, promoted by one of the most corrupt officials of the current administration, with proven connections to drug traffickers and terrorists in Florida."
Rubio had been emphatic when announcing the package in May:
"The Cuban people must know that there are 100 million dollars in food and medicine available to them right now, and the only reason they are not receiving it is the Cuban regime."
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