Havana is willing to hear details of the proposal but calls for an end to U.S. blockade and sanctions.

On Thursday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez announced that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had just publicly formalized for the first time an offer of humanitarian assistance worth US$100 million.

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The offer came just two days after Rodriguez denied statements by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who told the press that Washington had made humanitarian aid available to Havana but that the Cuban government was preventing its distribution.

On May 12, Rodriguez described Rubio’s statements as a “fable,” denouncing that no official or public offer had existed through the appropriate channels.

Because there was no information about the aid offer or any formal proposal, the Cuban foreign minister at the time questioned whether it was “deception or dirty business” intended to undermine the independence of his country.

The following is the message FM Rodriguez posted on X on May 14, referring to the recent formal public offer:

“For the first time, the U.S. government has publicly formalized, through a State Department statement, an offer of aid to Cuba valued at US$100 million.

“It still has not been clarified whether the aid will be in cash or materials, and whether it will be directed toward the people’s most urgent current needs, such as fuel, food and medicine.

“In any case, even taking into account the inconsistency of the apparent generosity of someone who subjects the Cuban people to collective punishment through economic warfare, the Cuban government does not have a practice of rejecting foreign aid that is offered in good faith and for genuine purposes of cooperation, whether bilateral or multilateral.

“It also has no problem working with the Catholic Church, with whose cooperation efforts it has long and positive experience of joint work. We are willing to hear the details of the offer and the way in which it would materialize.

“We hope it is free of political maneuvering and attempts to exploit the shortages and suffering of a people under siege.

“The best help that the U.S. government could provide at this or any other time to the noble Cuban people would be to scale back the measures of the energy, economic, commercial and financial blockade, intensified as never before in recent months, which severely affects all sectors of the Cuban economy and society.”

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: X – teleSUR

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