State Department hopes to spend $3M for hurricane relief in Cuba via the Catholic Church

The U.S. State Department is working with the Catholic Church to provide $3 million in humanitarian aid to those impacted by Hurricane Melissa in Eastern Cuba, though it remains unclear whether Cuba will accept the aid.

“The United States is coordinating with the Catholic Church the distribution of $3 million in humanitarian assistance directly to those in eastern Cuba most impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa,” the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on X Nov. 4. “Our prayers are with the brave Cuban people.”

In a statement Oct. 30, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the department’s intention to assist eastern Cuba, although the details of the plan were not announced until Nov. 4.

The $3 million is part of what the department on Nov. 4 called “an initial $24 million in emergency, life-saving assistance for Jamaica, Haiti, the Bahamas, and the people of Cuba to assist those affected by the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa.”  

The hurricane led to severe flooding, which damaged buildings, roads, crops, and infrastructure, according to the Miami Herald. Melissa’s path was similar to that of last year’s Hurricane Oscar, and  many poor communities had yet to recover from that one when Melissa arrived in Eastern Cuba last week.

Despite the widespread damage, it is unclear whether the Cuban government will allow the aid to come through. The Cuban government has previously made it clear it prefers to distribute aid itself, rather than allow organizations, Catholic or otherwise, to do so. According to the Miami Herald, the U.S. government has historically been unwilling to bend to the Cuban government’s preferences.

After Rubio’s Oct. 30 announcement but before the Nov. 4 plan was announced, Johana Tablada, a Cuban foreign affairs official, said that the Cuban government was open to an offer, but she expressed skepticism over whether the governments of the two nations would be able to come to an agreement.

“[Cuban officials] haven’t rejected anything, and [American officials] haven’t offered or sent anything,” she said. “They only clarified the regulations, prohibitions and exemptions already in place. The gap between what the United States says and what the United States does is enormous.”

The Cuban government has yet to comment on the Nov. 4 proposal.

The department is encouraging those who wish to help hurricane victims to donate to humanitarian relief.