Sep 9, 2008 7:06 pm US/Eastern
Cubans Have Limited Options To Send Hurricane Help
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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People in Baracoa, Cuba, recover some of their belongings from their destroyed houses, after the passage of Hurricane Ike on Sept. 8, 2008.
STR/AFP/Getty Images
For South Floridians with family and friends in Cuba there's a desperate feeling of concern and helplessness. Hurricane Ike added death to destruction, battering the communist island less than two weeks after Hurricane Gustav blew through. Cuban authorities report 4 people killed, and damage is estimated at billions of dollars.
"I pray to God for those people in need right now," said Jorge Mirelles, one of dozens of Cuban exiles who packed Tuesday's noon Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Coconut Grove.
"La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre", as she is known to her faithful, is Cuba's patron saint. Legend has it she saved three fishermen from a terrible storm. And now, the day after the celebration of her annual feast, the devout flocked to the shrine to pray for their storm-weary loved ones back in their homeland.
"Right now they're going through hunger; they're going through a lot of hard stuff," said Mirelles, adding, "even tomorrow they're not going to have anything for themselves and that's very hard."
It makes it harder, he says, because he feels helpless to help them, and the Cuban government has balked at help from the U.S.
After Hurricane Gustav slammed Cuba at the end of August, the U.S. offered $100 thousand in emergency aid, but the Cuban government refused the help. Instead, it suggested Washington should lift the trade embargo against Cuba. Sunday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the embargo would only be lifted if Cuba held free elections and released political prisoners.
"If Cuba says no, then you know what, it's not about us," says Raul Martinez. Martinez, a Democrat running for Congress, actually agrees with the Bush administration on that one point, but he also believes there is another way the U.S. can still help storm victims in Cuba: by temporarily lifting restrictions on how much money Cuban exiles can send family members,($100 a month, to immediate family only), and how often exiles can travel to the island, (once every three years).
"Allow these people to go to Cuba and help their family members, and I'm sure those poor people will share whatever they get," he says.
He'd also like to see the Cuban government give up its cut of cash remittances exiles send relatives. Right now Cuban authorities take 20% of the money.
An online petition started at
alcedodiario.blogspot.com, already signed by Cuban exiles around the world, is asking for similar concessions from both President Bush and Cuban leader Raul Castro.
Monday, Florida Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart urged the international community to pressure the Cuban government to allow massive humanitarian aid for the victims of Ike and Gustav.
In the meantime, the only way for Mirelles and other Cuban-Americans to help family and fellow Cubans recover from the storms is through so-called NGO's, non-government organizations who are licensed to send aid to Cuba. These include independent organizations like Catholic Charities of the
Archdiocese of Miami and PADF, the disaster relief arm of the OAS
panamericanrelief.org.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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