Overview
- The State Department announced initial shipments of rice, beans, pasta and other staples to the Catholic Church for people affected by Hurricane Melissa.
- The plan totals $3 million in assistance and targets about 6,000 families in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Guantánamo, with charter flights on January 14 to Holguín and January 16 to Santiago carrying more than 525 food kits and 650 hygiene and water-treatment kits each, and a ship set to deliver remaining supplies to Santiago in the coming weeks.
- State Department official Jeremy Lewin said the commitment is to the Cuban people rather than the government, characterized the aid as aiming to erode the regime’s popular support, and linked it to a broader strategy attributed to President Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio with messaging tied to developments in Venezuela.
- Lewin said the timing—more than two months after the storm—reflected the Catholic Church’s process to obtain permissions to receive the shipments.
- Critics accused Washington of politicizing relief and noted that by December Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Panama had already delivered petroleum and large consignments of humanitarian aid to Cuba.