The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) referred on Facebook to the arrival of the first shipment of 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid offered by the United States government, but took the opportunity to once again blame Washington for the crisis facing the island.
The flight, operated by 7 Air Cargo from Miami, landed at José Martí International Airport in Havana with 700 food modules and 700 hygiene modules, intended for the same number of Cuban families in the municipalities of Alquízar, in Artemisa, and Bejucal, in Mayabeque.
In the reception, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of Havana; Carmen María Nodal Martínez, Director of Cáritas Cuba; and Ángel Miguel Gutiérrez Valdivia, Director of Cáritas Havana, were present alongside government officials.
The distribution of the packages —which include rice, beans, tuna, and hygiene products— will be carried out through local parishes, based on vulnerability criteria, with the support of volunteers from the parish communities.
In the statement, MINCEX did not miss the opportunity to assert that "the component of aid contrasts with the reality imposed by the collective punishment applied by the United States government against the people of Cuba, reinforced by a brutal energy blockade imposed since the early days of this year."
The regime presented the assistance not as a gesture from the U.S. government, but from the people: "Cuba does not oppose aid as long as it benefits the people and their needs are not exploited for political gain; it accepts it as a gesture from the American people who, through their contributions, support the public funds used by their government."
This narrative is part of a strategy by the regime: to accept the material resources that the population needs, but without conceding that the embargo is the cause of all the ills of Cuba.
The statement from MINCEX came amidst a backdrop of diplomatic tension. This Tuesday, Miguel Díaz-Canel attacked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, labeling him as "one of the most corrupt officials of the current administration, proven to have links with drug traffickers and terrorists from Florida," in response to the State Department report titled "Cuba: the capital of 21st-century communism." This Wednesday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez referred to the same document as a "slanderous pamphlet".
The regime's stance contrasts with the warnings from Under Secretary of State Jeremy P. Lewin, who made it clear that "this is not their aid" and that the Cuban government "is not in a position to make decisions about this."
The 100 million dollar package was announced by Rubio in May 2026 from Rome, after meeting with Pope Leo XIV. It is divided into 60 million for the Catholic Church and 40 million for independent non-governmental organizations. The mechanism was designed to exclude the regime: Catholic Relief Services purchases the products in the United States and sends them to Caritas Cuba, which distributes them without transferring cash and without state intervention.
According to Cáritas Cuba explained, the full program could benefit between 100,000 and more than 196,000 families across the island, drawing on the experience of a previous package of nine million dollars distributed after Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.
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