Did US Recently Send Help to Cuba?

 

     Today --- on October 12th-2022 -- the Miami Herald blared out the above Headline and Photo. The article was written by Nora Gamez Torres, one of that newspaper's prime anti-Cuban reporters. The article indicates that the United States actually sent some aid...some help...to Cuba after the island's recent and very deadly explosion and fire that destroyed its main Power Depot in Matanzas 65 miles southeast of Havana. Supposedly, USAID is the U. S. department that unbiased observers often describe as a prime agency in which the United States routinely filters mammoth amounts of tax dollars to undermine Cuba and therefore fund dissidents or money-hungry people who want to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba, which has been a dire U. S. policy since January 1, 1959. So, in that milieu...today's huge Miami Herald article is, uh...interesting.

     As you can see above, today's article correctly mentions some facts regarding USAID and its involvement with Cuba. It took five days for Cuba to get the deadly Matanzas fire under control, thanks to instant help from Mexico, Venezuela, and Japan. The article above suggests that the U. S. actually "sent personal protective equipment for firefighters to Cuba following a devastating fire at an oil storage facility in August."

    In the second paragraph above note that the USAID appeared to suggest that the protective equipment may have not even reached the Cuban firefighters, 16 of whom died fighting the horrendous blaze. The USAID quote said: "There is also a concern in Congress that this is a radical departure from the bipartisan, decades-long practice of not channeling U. S. humanitarian assistance through the Cuban regime, but rather through independent {non-governmental organizations} or humanitarian organizations." That refers to Cuba's belief that, at times, USAID, in the guise of helping everyday Cubans, uses such efforts to simply send more funding, etc., to dissidents.

    The three paragraphs above in the Miami Herald -- on October 12th-2022 -- actually state, correctly, Cuba's concern for anything that the U. S., especially USAID, sends to Cuba "to aid Cubans" actually goes to only the most extreme dissidents on the island, not to the Cuban government. In other words, when devastations occur in Cuba...such as the Matanzas explosion-fire that still exacerbates power blackouts...Cuba believes that any resultant "help" from the U. S. might be used as "an excuse" to further help and fund only dissents. But at least, if you read the nine paragraphs above, the Miami Herald seems today to correctly inject Cuba's concerns about any "help" from USAID with, to say the least, a bit of skepticism in Cuba. And that, at least, is finally some honest Cuban journalism from Miami.

Indeed!!

     For once...I believe that Nora Gamez Torres and the Miami Herald today -- Oct. 12th-2022 -- wrote an unbiased article regarding the USAID help that apparently the U. S. sent to Cuba with good intentions after the Matanzas explosion/fire back in August, which still remains a terrible blow to the Cuban people two months later. Yes, the fire-proof gear that supposedly was sent by USAID to help the Cuban firefighters was a gesture of kindness to the Cuban people.

     Every now and then a handshake between neighbors reminds us that cooperation is better than war or terrorism.

*&***********************&*