The Miami Herald.
Published Thursday, November 8, 2001
U.S. offers storm relief aid to Cuba; exiles seeking way to help victims
By Nancy San Martin, Andres Oppenheimer and Elaine de
Valle. sanmartin@herald.com
In a gesture that U.S. officials described as "routine'' in cases of
natural disasters, the Department of State on Wednesday made a formal offer of
relief assistance to Cuba, which is still gauging damage caused by Hurricane
Michelle.
The Cuban government did not immediately respond to the offer, which was
made to Cuban officials in both Washington and Havana.
The U.S. goodwill gesture follows an offer of aid by Cuba, after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, which the White House summarily rejected.
Cuban Americans in South Florida also are trying to find a way to help the
victims of Michelle, but it's not as easy as signing a check or shipping
donations of canned goods.
The issue of how humanitarian aid to Cuba is distributed is mired in
politics.
Spanish-language radio commentators and other exile leaders who support the
40-old economic embargo on Cuba say money or food and supplies should be sent
directly to dissidents for them to distribute.
"We're trying to think of something that wouldn't end up in Castro's
hands,'' said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National
Foundation. "That's the trick.
The type of aid offered by the United States would depend on the needs of
the island. Any U.S. assistance would come with strings attached.
"We did make it clear to them that this cannot be
government-to-government assistance, and that any relief assistance that we
could give should be through international relief organizations or NGO's,'' or
nongovernmental organizations, a State Department official said on the condition
of not being named.
This is at least the second time the United States has offered Cuba
humanitarian aid. In 1998, Cuba rejected a U.S. offer to deliver food to the
island through the U.N. World Food Program, said Richard Boucher, a State
Department spokesman. At the time, drought was causing food shortages in eastern
Cuba.
Hurricane Michelle struck Cuba on Sunday evening, killing at least five
people, destroying thousands of homes and devastating crops and sugar mills.
With whole communities still unreachable by car or telephone, Cuban
officials have said they don't yet have a clear picture of the damage wrought by
Michelle.
Similar offers of U.S. help were made to other countries affected by
Michelle, including the Bahamas and Honduras.
State Department officials said that if Cuba accepts the offer, the Office
of Foreign Disaster Assistance would determine what the needs are and make the
necessary arrangements. Standard post-hurricane assistance include things such
as plastic sheeting for makeshift housing, for example, and equipment to purify
contaminated water.
President Fidel Castro already has indicated outside assistance would not be
necessary, saying that Cuba has the reserves to take care of the devastation
caused by Michelle.
"That does mean that aid has been rejected, simply that up to now we
have the reserves necessary,'' said Luis Fernández, a spokesman for the
Cuban Interests Section in Washington.
Some foreign aid already has made its way to Cuba.
China is donating $120,000 in cash and $484,000 in medicine and food, and
Venezuela a planeload of food and medicine.
Germany also has promised medicine and food for children.
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Miami's Catholic Charities branch -- which
sent more than 130,000 pounds of food to Cuba after 1996's Hurricane Lili --
already has 70,000 pounds of emergency food supplies waiting for word from
Caritas Cuba, the social service arm of the Catholic Church on the island. It
includes 55,000 military ready-to-eat packages that are pre-cooked, said Bishop
Thomas Wenski, director of Catholic Charities.
Catholic Charities is also accepting cash, and only cash donations, for the
Hurricane Michelle Relief Effort.
Cuban authorities getting first look at extent of hurricane destruction,
but picture still unclear
HAVANA -- (AP) -- Cuban officials are finding regions hard hit by Hurricane
Michelle, with wrecked sugar mills, acres of ruined crops and hundreds of homes
destroyed.
Traveling for the first time by air to central Matanzas province, Cuban
Communist Party officials Tuesday afternoon flew over cane fields flattened by
hurricane force winds and piles of wood and hay that were once thatched roof
homes.
But they and the rest of the nation still did not have a clear picture
Wednesday of the overall damage wrought by the storm when it whipped crosswise
over the island Sunday with winds of more than 135 mph.
Because telephone service was still down between Havana and many affected
areas in the countryside, officials didn't even try to provide a preliminary
damage estimate.
"A total estimate of losses will be delayed various days more because
of the lack of communication,'' the Communist Party daily Granma reported.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
