The Swiss NGO Camaquito has reached a new milestone in its humanitarian work in Cuba: its founder and director, Mark Kuster, announced on his Facebook account that the organization has invested a total of 53,000 dollars directly into Cuban families in Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey, without going through any intermediaries.
"Until today, we have invested USD 53,000 directly without intermediaries in the Cuban people. Together we continue to make a difference!" wrote Kuster in his post, where he also expressed his pride in the team operating on the ground in both provinces.
That figure is the result of two consecutive deliveries made between September and October of this year.
The first, valued at $25,000, benefited 250 families in Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey with packages that included food, medicine, hygiene products, and rechargeable fans.
The second, valued at 28,000 dollars, was announced on September 24 with the same type of content and aimed at another 280 families in the same provinces.
Among the beneficiaries of both initiatives are households with individuals with disabilities and children within the autism spectrum, deemed a priority by the organization.
"After having supported 250 families, we continue with our commitment to assist another 280 families," said Kuster, who has been residing in Cuba since 2003 and personally oversees the projects on the ground.
The philosophy guiding each delivery has remained the same since the beginning: to reach the beneficiary without bureaucracy or distribution chains that dilute the resources. "The situation that many people in Cuba are currently facing is very difficult. That's why, for us, it is even more important not just to talk about it, but to help in a concrete and direct way," Kuster had declared when announcing the first delivery.
This principle, which the director himself summarizes with the phrase "Less noise. More impact," has also guided other interventions by Camaquito in 2026: in July, the organization funded around 17,000 dollars' worth of materials to keep two hospital gasometers operational in Santiago de Cuba, capable of performing nearly 13,700 analyses on newborns and critically ill patients.
In April, Kuster secured additional funding of $50,000 to repair homes damaged by Hurricane Melissa in Santiago de Cuba, a commitment he had announced in November 2025 after the cyclone passed, which affected over 137,000 homes in that province.
The context in which these aid programs operate is extremely serious: according to data related to the strategic plan of the World Food Program for Cuba 2026-2030, nearly 97% of the population does not have adequate access to food, and 34% of households reported that at least one member went to bed hungry in the past 30 days.
Founded on June 21, 2001, in Switzerland, Camaquito celebrated its 25th anniversary this year having raised over four million euros for projects in Cuba in the areas of health, education, culture, social inclusion, and access to drinking water.
"I feel very proud of my friends and of the entire team in Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey, who make this beautiful work possible," Kuster concluded in his message, in which he also announced that the commitment to the 530 families benefiting from these two rounds of assistance does not mark the end, but rather the continuation of a work that has already lasted over two decades.
Related videos:
Filed under: