MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - Humanitarian activists are working to deliver much-needed aid to Cuba, and the efforts are being met with criticism from South Florida’s Cuban exile community.
More than 20 tons of food, medicine, solar panels and other supplies are ready to set sail Saturday, as a flotilla called Nuestra América Convoy prepared to head from Progreso, Mexico to Havana.
Before setting sail, Thiago Ávila, an organizer for the Global Sumud Flotilla, said he hopes to deliver the life-saving supplies to the people of Cuba, as the island’s humanitarian crisis deepens.
Speaking in Spanish, Ávila said that what they are taking is a drop in the ocean, but it is an important and symbolic movement.
At Miami International Airport on Friday, others who are taking part in the convoy left to Havana by plane.
Medea Benjamin echoed Ávila’s comments.
“I think it’s a drop in the bucket, in terms of what the needs are, but I think it’s also important for the Cuban people to see that the people in the United States don’t agree with a policy that’s designed to create tremendous hardships in Cuba,” she said.
Cuba’s economic crisis is the worst in years, driven by tightened sanctions by the U.S. and a blockade of oil. The regime appears to be weakening by the day, but so are the people, who are struggling without power, little food and medicine.
Danie Valdez, the founder of the organization Cuban Americans for Cuba, was among those.
“Many Cuban Americans, despite what you hear from the loudest ones, do not support U.S. policy that actively harms their friends, their family, their loved ones in Cuba,” he said.
About 300 people from roughly 30 countries are joining that movement, one that is being criticized by Cuban exiles in South Florida who said it is organized by Castro sympathizers.
Ramón Saúl Sánchez, president of Movimiento Democracia, spoke out against the flotilla at a news conference held Monday.
“The flotilla is organized by the daughter of Raúl Castro and groups that are supportive of the regime,” he said. “And what are they going to do if they give it to the regime? The regime is going to sell it.”
According to the Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca, aid that was donated to Cuba from Mexico was showing up in the island’s stores and being sold for U.S. dollars.
“I mean, it is the government’s job to take this aid and distribute it — that’s what they do — and the aid will be distributed by Cuban civil service organizations,” said Valdez. “I just don’t believe that the Cuban government has an interest in hoarding thousands of tons of aid when their people are starving.”
Many Cuban Americans living in exile in Florida oppose this convoy for this very reason.
“My uncle was tortured by the communist regime. He was a political prisoner for six years,” said a Cuban American man who spoke to 7News at MIA. “If we protest about due process, if we protest about the rule of law, how can we be giving aid to a communist regime?”
Sánchez is calling on the Trump administration to allow Cuban exiles to return in their own flotilla so that they can deliver supplies that they know will go into the right hands.
In the meantime, Sánchez has a message for the Cuban people.
“Go to el Malecón and say to the regime and say to the flotilla, ‘Give us that, that was sent to us by the Mexican people. Do not give it to the regime to so that they cannot sell it anymore,'” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio continued the pressure campaign as he pushes for regime change.
“They don’t know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge,” he said earlier this week.
Cuban exiles are hoping that happens sooner rather than later
“We want freedom now. We cannot keep postponing this, ’cause there are young people who are losing their lives,” said Cuban activist Salome Garcia.
“We will, always will be thinking about entering Cuban waters and our homeland,” said Sánchez.
A protest against the flotilla has been scheduled for Saturday at Lummus Park in Miami.
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