EFE (via 14ymedio), Asunción, 5 April 2023 — Paraguay will send seven tons of medical materials to Cuba as part of humanitarian aid following the consequences of the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker base, which caused the deaths of 17 people last August, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry.
The medical supplies are also delivered “in response to the country’s request” to deal with the devastation left by Hurricane Ian, in September 2022, read a statement published by the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry.
The industrial fire in Matanzas and the passage of Hurricane Ian in Cuba were “events that seriously affected the essential infrastructure of that country,” it said.
“The shipment of the donation will be made with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Paraguay, which assumed the costs for the arrival of the lot in the city of Havana,” the Foreign Ministry added.
The Paraguayan Foreign Ministry explained that “the donated inputs do not affect the needs of the Paraguayan population,” since, according to the note, “these are products with sufficient availability by the Ministry of Health, corresponding to remnants of the preparation in the face of last year’s covid-19 pandemic.”
“This gesture of international solidarity cements the bonds of friendship that unite the peoples of Paraguay and Cuba, and contributes to reinforcing the role of our country as a provider of international cooperation,” it added.
The fire at the Matanzas supertanker base is considered the biggest industrial disaster in the history of Cuba and has had serious economic, energy and environmental repercussions for the country.
For its part, the passage of Hurricane Ian, category three (out of five) on the Saffir-Simpson scale, caused considerable material damage in western Cuba, as it passed north towards Florida.
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