Cuba Rejects American Offer of Hurricane Aid

Cuba Rejects American Offer of Hurricane Aid
By MARC LACEY
Published: September 6, 2008

MEXICO CITY — The Cuban government turned down Washington's offer of
hurricane assistance Saturday, saying the best way for the United States
to help Cuban victims of Hurricane Gustav would be for it to lift the
economic embargo on the island.

Cuba said it had its own experts on the job while rejecting the State
Department offer to send disaster specialists to assess the damages to
the western Pinar del Rio Province and the Island of Youth.

On Wednesday, Thomas A. Shannon Jr., assistant secretary of state for
Western Hemisphere Affairs, told the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington that the United States would aid Cuban victims with $100,000
in immediate aid and more once the extent of the need was known. The
aid, State Department officials said, would be sent through
non-governmental organizations and not to the Cuban government.

But Cuba said that the trade embargo costs the island yearly damages
that exceed the billions of dollars in destruction that it attributes to
Hurricane Gustav. Cuba has accepted hurricane assistance from Russia,
Venezuela and other allies. Such aid has frequently taken on a political
dimension between Cuba and the United States over the years.

"The only correct and ethical action," Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a
statement, would be to end "the ruthless and cruel economic, commercial
and financial blockage imposed against our Motherland for almost half a
century."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/world/americas/cubaforweb.html?ref=world