The Varadero International Airport "Juan Gualberto Gómez" welcomed the third humanitarian aid flight from the United States government on Tuesday afternoon, aimed at the Diocese of Matanzas, channeled through Caritas Cuba.
The shipment included 700 hygiene and sanitation modules with which the distribution in the Vicaría Nuestra Señora de la Caridad was completed, thus fulfilling the delivery to the 2,100 vulnerable families selected in that vicaría, reported Cáritas Cuba.
According to Alberto Chía, diocesan coordinator of the Risk and Disaster Management Program, the kits are being distributed this Wednesday among four locations: 139 in Alacranes, 311 in San Antonio de Cabezas, fifty in Unión de Reyes, and 200 in Bolondrón.
The priests Enrique Peñate Galán and Naydel Echazabal Rodríguez led the distribution in rural areas and remote communities. Cáritas Cuba emphasized that "they carried, together with the community, the embrace of the Catholic Church to the most distant areas, to the families in greatest need of a hopeful gesture and a tender look."
This third flight is part of a sequence that started on October 14 with the first shipment to Matanzas, followed by a second shipment on October 22, both of which also arrived in Varadero.
Cáritas Cuba has already announced that "the arrival of the fourth shipment is expected at the end of November and will be destined for the San Carlos Borromeo Vicariate, starting with the parishes of La Caridad and El Carmen."
Assistance arrives without going through the Cuban government or the military conglomerate GAESA. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) procures supplies in the United States, and Caritas Cuba distributes them directly through its parish network and home visits.
The program is part of the commitment of 100 million dollars announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May 2026, after meeting with Pope Leo XIV in Rome. Of that amount, 60 million is channeled through CRS and the Catholic Church, and 40 million through other independent humanitarian organizations.
In the Diocese of Matanzas, the program aims to reach 18,200 family units. On a national scale, CRS estimates that assistance could reach nearly 200,000 households, equivalent to over 500,000 people across the island.
The program has also reached other provinces. On November 5, the fourth flight for the Archdiocese of Havana landed, destined for families in Güines, in Mayabeque, and a few days later, Cáritas Camagüey distributed its second shipment of the same assistance.
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