United States to allow humanitarian flight to Cuba
By Paisley Dodds
Associated Press
MIAMI - Four days after Hurricane Lili smashed into Cuba, the White House gave approval for a single cargo plane loaded with 70,000 pounds of food, clothing and medicine to fly directly to the island by the weekend.The emergency flight from Miami would be the first since Cuban MiGs shot down two planes piloted by Miami-based exiles in February, killing four. In response, President Clinton suspended direct charter flights to Cuba.Administration officials said the waiving of the restriction does not signal a change in policy toward Fidel Castro's communist government.
"We thought the Catholic Church made a very persuasive case that they should be allowed to distribute that aid directly," White House spokesman Mike McCurry said yesterday, a day after the flight was approved.
Shipping companies have offered to fly a Boeing 707 to Cienfuegos, the province hit worst by Lili last Friday. Exiles in South Florida, who pleaded for the flight, donated most of the canned food, bottled water, medicine and other supplies collected by charities.
"We now have all the necessary permits that we need to fly directly into Cuba," said Peter Coats, a special assistant to the archdiocese of Miami coordinating the shipment. "All we need now is permission from Cuba for the flight to land."
Messages to the Cuban Foreign Ministry in Havana were not immediately returned yesterday, but relief officials expected approval.The archdiocese is working with the Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services and Caritas International in Cuba. Coats said the groups already have asked the White House to approve more flights from Miami to deliver an additional 180,000 pounds of aid.
According to a preliminary U.N. report, the hurricane destroyed 5,460 homes and damaged 78,855 others in Cuba. More than 1.6 million acres of sugar cane plantations were devastated, as were 53,000 acres of banana plantations and 90,000 acres of other crops.
| Contents | Home | Archives | Feedback |
© Copyright 1996, Kernel Press Inc. All Rights Reserved