Belize donates relief supplies to Cuba
If you thought that all the news was bad today, there is one issue that is certainly positive and it involves one country in this hemisphere that over the years has shown solidarity and support for Belize – it is Cuba. And today Belize stepped up to the plate and handed over two thousand pounds of relief items to the government of Cuba. The shipment was handed over to Cuban Ambassador Manuel Rubido and transported to the island by Cuban aircraft. The island was hit three times recently, twice by hurricanes Gustav and Ike and once by Tropical Storm Fay.
Noreen Fairweather, Coordinator, NEMO
“We have assisted the Turks and Caicos and Haiti through our regional organization, CEDERA. We had presence of Belizean persons in those countries assisting with the damage assessment and we had presence assisting with getting their electrical grid back on track. In the case of Cuba, we are assisting, the Government of Belize to Cuba with relief supplies; food stuffs for the most part. Cuba has lost over four thousand tons of their reserves in food in the southern part of the country. The primary need at this time right now is to have food available to them, have housing and shelter and also to get the Cuban grid so to speak back on line. Our donation is focusing on the food part of it. We are donating a small but token sum of a ton of food to Cuba.”
Kendra Griffith
“What does the food stuffs entail?”
Noreen Fairweather
“The food for the most part comprises of canned stuff. We have canned sausages, milk, ovaltine, and we also some shortening and that type of thing. We have over fifty plus boxes.”
Manuel Rubido, Cuban Ambassador to Belize
“Today’s donation from NEMO is a proof of the ties that exist between Belize and Cuba. We believe that Belize, being a poor country and suffering just recently from damages of its own of weather of this kind, has actually outreached its hand to Cuba and presented the donation of the people of Belize to our country. This flight will be a kind of a memorable flight because at the same time it proves that bilateral relations between us cause whilst a donation from the Belizean people is going off to the affected people in Cuba by the affected hurricanes, we are also taking thirty students from Belize who have received scholarships in Cuba and we are taking a group of patients who will be operated on under the I Care Program. So it’s a gesture of the mutual solidarity ties between our people.”
According to Rubido, while the island is on the road to recovery, losses to the economy are in the range of five billion dollars. He told News Five that over one hundred thousand homes were destroyed and three hundred and fifty thousand others were partially damaged. The hurricanes claimed the lives of seven persons and most of the island was affected. Currently, over two hundred Belizeans are studying throughout Cuba.
