Venezuela Sends 100 Tons of Aid to Cuba for Tornado Victims

The donation arrived in Cuba after a week’s voyage on a Venezuelan Naval ship. (Ricardo López Hevia)

14ymedio biggerEFE, via 14ymedio, Havana, 9 February 2019 —  On Friday, Havana received one hundred tons of construction materials and machinery sent by Venezuela to alleviate the damages of the tornado on 27 January that devastated five neighborhoods of the Cuban capital, leaving six dead, 195 injured and more than 10,000 displaced.

The Venezuelan donation arrived in Cuba after a weeklong voyage on a Naval ship of that country, which transported a cargo that includes machines for moving earth and debris, forklifts, trucks, pipes, electric cables, doors and windows.

“We are here to offer support (…) even in moments when Venezuela suffers a political and economic aggression led by the United States,” Venezuelan commander Vladimir Maldonado told the state-run Cuban News Agency.

Venezuela’s gesture of solidarity coincides with a moment of political and humanitarian crisis in the South American nation, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, the main ally of Havana in the region, has received criticism for sending aid to Cuba amid the shortages in Venezuela itself.

The island maintains its support for Maduro, whom it recognizes as the sole ruler of Venezuela after the proclamation, on Wednesday, 23 Jaunary, by the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, naming himself as interim president, with the immediate support of the United States. and several Latin American nations.

Last Sunday, 27January, Havana was surprised by an intense tornado that hit five districts in the east of the capital with winds that exceeded 300 kilometers per hour.

Almost two weeks after the disaster, there are more than 4,800 affected households, a number that grows every day and further complicates the delicate situation of housing in Havana, the most populated city on the island.

In the Cuban capital more than 200,000 cubic meters of rubble have been collected, among which are remains of walls, roofs, cars dragged by gusts and lighting poles.

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