A second airplane with humanitarian aid from the Government of the United States arrived this Thursday in Matanzas, carrying a shipment of 700 kits intended for vulnerable families in that Cuban province, where the Catholic Church will continue to distribute food and basic necessities.
The flight landed at Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport in Varadero, according to reported Cáritas Cuba in a statement where it also confirmed that this is the second shipment received by the Diocese of Matanzas as part of the assistance program funded by Washington.
The new batch will allow for the continued distribution of supplies to families previously identified by Cáritas, with priority given to those facing the greatest economic and social challenges.
In this instance, the distribution will focus on the territory of the parish of Our Lady of Charity, which includes Unión de Reyes, Bolondrón, Güira de Macurijes, and rural communities in that area.
The parish volunteers, alongside the priest Enrique Peñate Galán, will be responsible for delivering aid to the selected households according to the criteria set by the donors.
The shipment occurs just eight days after the arrival of the first consignment destined for Matanzas, which was received on October 14 at the same Varadero airport.
During that initial delivery, U.S. assistance began to arrive for 700 of the 2,100 selected families at the Vicaría Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, a district that includes several localities in the municipality of Unión de Reyes.
The reception was led by Monsignor Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz, Bishop of Matanzas, and María de los Ángeles Castelo Elías Calles, Director of Caritas in the diocese.
The prioritized beneficiaries include adults aged 60 and over, people with disabilities, individuals with chronic illnesses, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and families with children under five years old who are experiencing situations of particular vulnerability.
Cáritas explained that the homes are selected in advance by their parish teams and volunteers, with the purpose of directing supplies to those who are in greatest need.
The first distribution has already taken place in communities such as Alacranes and San Antonio de Cabezas, where volunteers transported the modules directly to the homes.
In its statement this Thursday, Cáritas Matanzas expressed gratitude for the experience of those initial deliveries and highlighted the work of the volunteers involved in the process.
The difficulties faced by some of the beneficiary families were reflected in the testimonies collected during the visits.
On October 17, Cáritas documented the distribution of aid to residents of rural communities in Matanzas who live in conditions of extreme hardship.
One of the cases was that of José Agustín Farray Ponce, known as "Tito," a resident of Cuatro Caminos, who welcomed the volunteers into a house located in an area without electricity.
"How could I have imagined that someone would remember me, that they would come to see me this afternoon!" he expressed upon receiving the supplies.
In other homes, the donations also reached bedridden individuals, the elderly, and families who rely on the assistance of neighbors or relatives to meet daily needs.
The new shipment is part of the $100 million humanitarian assistance program announced by the U.S. government in May, an initiative aimed at distributing food, hygiene products, and other supplies to the Cuban population.
Of that amount, $60 million is channeled through Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas Cuba, and the network of the Catholic Church, while the remaining $40 million corresponds to distribution mechanisms through independent humanitarian organizations.
The State Department presented the program as a means of direct assistance to citizens, without providing resources to the Cuban government.
The Catholic Church has clarified that the 60 million dollars are not given in cash to Cáritas Cuba. The funds are used to purchase supplies and finance the logistics needed to transport and distribute them among families.
The products are procured and transported in coordination with CRS, while the volunteers from Cáritas carry out the distribution within Cuban territory through their diocesan and parish structures.
The program had its first national flight on July 21, when a cargo plane departed from Miami to Havana carrying food and hygiene supplies initially intended for 700 families.
That shipment marked the beginning of the distribution of the new $100 million package, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and was coordinated with the Catholic organizations responsible for delivering the products to the beneficiaries.
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