Mon Sep 15, 5:48 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department said Monday it regretted that
Cuba has rejected its offer of up to five million dollars in aid for the
victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
The United States has tense and limited relations with its communist
neighbor, which has been under a US embargo for more than four decades.
Washington "informed the Cuban government (on Saturday) that the US is
committed to providing up to five million dollars in relief assistance
for Cuban hurricane victims," Department spokesman Sean McCormack told
reporters.
The US government "could fly emergency relief supplies to Cuba as soon
as they, the Cuban government, authorize such assistance," he added.
On Sunday "the Cuban government informed us that they would not accept a
donation from the United States," McCormack said.
"And our reply was that we regret that Cuban authorities have not
accepted this offer of humanitarian assistance for the Cuban people," he
said.
Cuban state television, citing a diplomatic cable, reported Sunday that
"it could not accept a gift" while under an embargo, "even if our
country is ready to buy essential material exported to the markets by US
companies."
If the US government does not want to lift the embargo definitively, it
continued, "the Cuban government asks for it to be authorized for at
least the next six months, because of the damage caused by" the
hurricanes, it said.
But Washington said it is not changing its policy toward the embargo
that it has imposed on Cuba since 1962.
The Cuban government also asked for the possibility of gaining access to
"credit, which is normal for any commercial operation," according to the
cable sent by the Cuban interests section in Washington.
Cuba last week urged Washington to ease its trade embargo to allow US
firms to open private lines of credit for food imports to the island of
11 million people.
The State Department said last week that it was giving 100,000 dollars
in aid to non-governmental organizations providing relief to Cubans, aid
that does not go through the Cuban government.
A Spanish aircraft meanwhile was due in Cuba on Tuesday with 17 tonnes
of aid from the World Food Program and another four tonnes from Spain to
help those affected by the hurricanes.
Spain also has promised 300,000 euros for rebuilding social
infrastructure, 200,000 euros for the Red Cross and another 18,000 via
the Pan American Health Organization for the repair of medical centers,
according to an official statement.
Cuba on Friday said it did not have the resources to recover from the
devastation wrought by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, including seven dead,
320,000 homes destroyed and extensive damage to crops.
Last week, Spain sent a first aid flight to Cuba with an aircraft
ferrying 16 tonnes of aid. Other countries, including Brazil, Russia and
Ecuador, have also sent humanitarian assistance.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080915/pl_afp/cubaweatherstormusaid_080915214836
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