Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed on Friday that the United States has offered Cuba’s government one hundred million dollars in humanitarian assistance, an offer the Cuban regime has so far refused to accept, leaving the Cuban people without critical relief the American government says it stands ready to deliver.
Rubio made the disclosure during a press conference following his meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican. The Secretary used the occasion to draw a sharp distinction between American policy toward Cuba and the conditions created by the Cuban government itself, pushing back against any suggestion that United States sanctions were responsible for the suffering of ordinary Cuban citizens.
The Secretary noted that a prior round of American humanitarian assistance, totaling six million dollars, had already been successfully delivered to the Cuban people through Caritas, the humanitarian agency of the Catholic Church.
That aid was distributed in the aftermath of hurricane damage. Rubio said the United States was fully prepared to go further, and that a far larger offer was on the table, contingent only on the regime agreeing to allow its distribution.
In his words, Rubio said, “We have provided six million dollars of humanitarian aid, US humanitarian aid that was distributed by Caritas, the Catholic Church agency. We are prepared to do more.”
“In fact, we have offered the regime one hundred million dollars of humanitarian aid that unfortunately so far they have not agreed to distribute to help the people of Cuba. So we did the hurricane relief, but we are offering more and it is the regime that is not accepting it. It is the regime that is standing in the way of it,” he said.
Rubio also addressed separate sanctions the United States imposed that same day, targeting a Cuban holding company known as GAISA.
He described the entity as a private vehicle established by Cuban military generals that generates billions of dollars in revenue, none of which benefits ordinary Cubans. He said the company effectively extracts wealth from Cuba and channels it into the pockets of a small number of regime insiders……..See More
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