The activists are delivering solar panels, backup batteries, and medical supplies financed with more than €160,000 raised through self-managed donations from over 4,000 donors.
14ymedio / EFE, Havana, July 20, 2026 – The sailing vessel Astral, operated by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, which together with more than 150 social and political organizations launched the “Rumbo a Cuba” initiative, arrived Sunday at the Port of Havana carrying seven tons of humanitarian aid destined for a children’s hospital in the Cuban capital.
The Open Arms vessel departed Barcelona in May and traveled 6,200 miles to transport a shipment of solar panels, backup batteries, and medical supplies to Cuba, financed with more than €160,000 raised through self-managed donations from over 4,000 donors.
The donation is intended to provide energy independence for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), intermediate care unit, and clinical laboratory of Havana’s Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Hospital.
At the ceremony welcoming the humanitarian mission, Óscar Camps, founder and director of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms, told the press that the initiative “is a humble contribution made by the organization with the support of the Spanish people” to highlight the humanitarian impact of the United States embargo on the Caribbean nation.
Camps congratulated the Cuban people, saying, “You are enduring and resisting an inhumane blockade. You are the true heroes, and the message I bring from my country to the Cuban people is that you are not alone, that this is only the beginning, and we hope others will follow this example.”
“We are living through a very difficult moment because of a blatant violation of international law, human rights, and international agreements,” Camps said, referring to what he described as the energy blockade imposed by the United States on the Island.
The Catalan activist also called for “bringing greater visibility to the problems Cuba is facing” and expressed confidence that doing so “will generate sympathetic support from other organizations that will want to collaborate and do the same” as Open Arms.
In that regard, he noted that his autonomous community, Catalonia, has allocated half a million euros to organizations working in Cuba “after we launched our mission.”
“It has already been worthwhile. We have contributed a tiny drop, a grain of sand, in an effort to repay the solidarity we have always received from the Cuban people,” he added.
The delegation participating in the Rumbo a Cuba humanitarian mission includes several Members of the European Parliament: Miguel Urbán Crespo, co-founder of the Podemos Party; Ana Miranda of the Galician Nationalist Bloc; Su Moreno of the Popular Unity Candidacy; and Aída Llauradó of Comuns. They took part last Saturday in an event at the Casa de las Américas cultural institution.
On Monday, the organizers of Rumbo a Cuba are scheduled to visit the hospital benefiting from the initiative, as well as participate in an activity with children at a cultural center in the Cuban capital.
Last March, the Island received the Nuestra América Convoy, a flotilla that sailed from Mexico carrying 14 tons of food, medicine, and solar panels.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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