- The United States has renewed its offer of aid to Cuba, which apparently hinges on sending an assessment team. Again, I hope both governments find a way to make this work. State Department statement here. Another good move: the government will allow organizations already licensed to provide humanitarian aid, to provide more, and to hand out cash. It’s still beyond me why families aren’t allowed to do the same thing.
- Sun Sentinel correspondent Ray Sanchez’ roundup of the Ike’s impact is here; another from La Jornada is here.
- Cuba’s AIN news agency has a photo gallery depicting Ike’s damage in several provinces, and at the bottom of the page there’s a link to a page of photos of Gustav’s impact in Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud.
- Cuban media report that Brazil’s President Lula da Silva called Raul Castro to express concern, to ask what Cuba needs, and to start the process of providing aid.
[News agency photo from Baracoa.]
This US insistence (straight from the lips of Menendez, the Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtien) to make some paltry aid conditioned to a US assessment team going out first is beyond words. If Cubans can do anything, it is doing a quick and comprehensive needs assessment. They had figures on everything from the number of roofs needed to the number of banana acres damaged within 24 hours of both storms. A team from the Interest's Section would be able to do exactly nothing that the Cubans haven't already done. The fact that the proposal was drafted by Cuba's worst enemies in Florida does not help matters. It is a political ploy, intended to allow US officials to claim they did all it could. When in fact they would not even allow the sale of a nail or permit family members to help family in desperate need. I am sick to my stomach.
ReplyDeletethank you for the recommendation, leftside, the U.S. needs to sell Cuba relief supplies. great.
ReplyDeleteArmando Valladares in Diario las Americas: “Not one nail, not one board for the dictatorship
ReplyDeletePhil Armando estuvo preso muchos años. He is got the right to say whatever he wants
Have you ever been inside a cuban jail cumpliendo condena
not one nail.... how sick is Diario. the dictatorship doesn't need the nails, the people do... this has been gusano strategy with US support since day one, let the people suffer
ReplyDeleteyou ever been in any third world jail? or any jail in US? or guantanemo? what's your point?