SEPTEMBER 8, 2008
The Cuban people are in need of massive humanitarian assistance
The Cuban regime must allow the aid in
Miami, FL – Attached please find the statement issued at today’s press conference by Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart, State Senator Rudy Garcia, State Representative David Rivera, other elected officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) demanding that the Cuban regime allow humanitarian aid be delivered to the people of Cuba in the wake of the recent devastating hurricanes and to provide information on how individuals can assist the victims:
• We are here today because according to the data and forecasts that we have available, Cuba is facing one of the worst natural disasters it has ever faced. This tragedy is compounded by years of abandonment of the nation’s basic infrastructure due to failed economic policies and political directives from the regime that Cuba has had for 50 years. But we will not dwell on that today.
• U.S. law and regulation allow unlimited humanitarian donations to the people of Cuba.
• The U.S. government, South Florida, and the Cuban American community, stand ready to aid the Cuban people in an unprecedented manner, with everything at our disposal, if the Cuban regime allows the aid in.
• This is a moment to come together as a community to channel, urgently and expeditiously, humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Cuba.
• Our number one objective today is to help the Cuban people in their greatest hour of need. To do so:
• The United States government has requested that a Disaster Assistance Relief Team (DART) be allowed into Cuba to assess the damage in order to provide U.S. aid. For example, in the case of Haiti, that DART assessment has already triggered tens of millions of dollars in disaster relief assistance from the United States to the Haitian people. Regrettably, the Cuban regime has rejected the U.S. offer.
• Numerous NGOs with a track record of disaster relief also stand ready to provide on the ground aid to the Cuban people. The Pan American Development Foundation –PADF (panamericanrelief.org) and Plantados Hasta la Libertad y Democracia (305-269-1812), for example, licensed NGOs to provide aid in Cuba, stand ready to help channel unlimited private assistance from individuals in the United States to the Cuban people. NGOs such as PADF and Catholic Charities (catholiccharitiesusa.org) stand ready to immediately work on the ground in Cuba to aid the Cuban people. We call on the Cuban regime to immediately allow NGOs with a known record of aiding in natural disasters, to enter Cuba.
• People in Cuba are demanding food, shelter and medicines. They need roofs over their heads and water they can drink. They need electricity restored. Cuba needs massive aid, now. It needs urgent emergency infrastructure support from experts from around the world. And we need to work with the proven and established channels of international humanitarian organizations and Cuban civil society to get the aid directly to the Cuban people.
• With that goal in mind, we are establishing a working group of elected officials and NGOs to continue monitoring the situation in Cuba, identify ways to provide immediate aid, and channel humanitarian assistance to the people in Cuba.
• There are numerous organizations that already possess licenses to provide humanitarian assistance and have already started to channel aid, such as Plantados, Caritas, PADF, Directorio, and others. Any other organizations that would like to provide assistance and wish to obtain a license should know that our Congressional offices and staffs stand ready to assist in expediting that process. There are no impediments in U.S. law or regulation that prevent unlimited humanitarian aid from getting to the Cuban people. The only impediment is the Cuban regime’s unwillingness to allow the aid in. We will not allow this tragedy to be used by the Cuban government or others to unilaterally eliminate sanctions on a state sponsor of terrorism that denies aid to its people (see attached statement of September 6 by the Cuban government).
• Again, this is a time to come together and do everything we possibly can to aid the people of Cuba in their greatest hour of need.
Si Diaz Balart realmente se preocupara por la gente en Cuba, influenciaría al gobierno que él sí puede influenciar, el de Estados Unidos. Caradura.
lO QUE CUBA TIENE QUE ACEPTAR LA AYUDA SIN PONER TANTAS CONDICIONES,EL EMBARGO NO TIENE NADA QUE VER CON ESO,LO QUE SE ARREGUINDAN DE CUALQUIER COSA PARA HACER LUCIR MAL A LOS EE.UU COMO LOS MALOS DE LA PELICULA.PER4O COMO LOS CUBANOS NO SABEN DE LO QUE PASA ,APARECE QUE LOS EEUU NO QUIEREN AYUDAR
Ufffff, los hermanitos Diaz Balart y David Rivera….se rompió el “demagogionometro”.
Oops, disculpa Varela, por hablar mal de tus “amiguitos”.
Nada de caradura Alejandro, no se le puede culpar a Diaz-Balart si la dictadura rechaza la ayuda de los EE.UU y si no quieren abrir las resevas de comida y materiales de construction de las FAR.
Un caradura, si senor.
More respect for our elected officials, please!
Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Díaz-Balart y otros cargos electos me dan vergüenza. Su ayuda para derrocar la dictadura en Cuba ha demostrado ser incapaz e ineficaz por más de 50 años. Ahora tenemos un problema inmediato que resolver, ayudar a nuestras familias salir de esta tragedia, y que solución proponen ellos, la misma fallida receta.
Quién está culpando a Diaz-Balart de lo que haga Raul or el MINFAR? Lo estoy culpando de lo que hace él solito. Lee detenidamente, por favor. Mira su propio comunicado de prensa: aparte de una recopilación de iniciativas de organizaciones con las que él no tiene nada que ver, es nada más que otra “denuncia” de lo que está más que denunciado y un llamado que él sabe muy bien que no va a prosperar en la práctica -en parte porque al gobierno cubano le importa tres pepinos y en parte porque nuestro querido Lincoln tiene zero influencia con la comunidad internacional. Eso se llama demagogia barata.
Vuelvo a repetir, si la dictadura no quiere abrir sus reservas de comida y materiales de construction hay que echarle la culpa al gobierno cubano.
Tambien vuelvo a decir que en cualquier otro pais estarian saqueando las diplotiendas o los establecimientos de cucs y los hoteles. El cubano hoy dia es esclavo de nacimiento.
Ah, ya veo: “esclavo de nacimiento”. O sea que se tienen bien merecido lo jodidos que están.