Sisters of Charity Material Aid

Miami nuns put politics aside to help storm-battered Cuba

BY MYRIAM MARQUEZ

Miami Herald Sep. 18, 2008

Behind the yellow tape blocking the side street in a residential neighborhood in Miami, dozens of volunteers under white tents pack empty Corona boxes with juice, beans, rice and medicines. Sister Rafaela Gonzalez, a sprightly 75, directs the action as the beep, beep, beep of a forklift topped with bottles of water alerts volunteers to move out of the way.

''This has been my job for 30 years,'' she says, smiling.

Her ''job'' in the Catholic order of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul is to serve the poor with good deeds as much as kind words. Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless -- Catholic works of mercy that know no political boundaries, only God's love.

As people from Miami to Washington debate loosening travel rules or the U.S. trade embargo toward Cuba after two back-to-back hurricanes, the nuns have nothing to debate. Their No. 1 job is saving lives as much as souls. The politicians and the demagogues can point fingers and raise suspicion about donated goods being skimmed by Cuban government officials, but the nuns have 14 years of experience seeing their containers get in the right hands.

Now is no time to debate. It's time to do -- and our community knows it.

The Daughters of Charity have found overwhelming support from South Florida residents eager to help more than a million Cubans left homeless by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. They're also helping direct supplies to two local Catholic churches -- Notre Dame and St. James -- that are organizing shipments to Haiti.

In just six days, the sisters have sent four 40-foot containers with $100,000 worth of food, water and medicines to the Port of Havana. Two of those containers already are feeding people in hard-hit Pinar del Río province. On Thursday, they prepared another two long containers as dozens of volunteers worked in synchronized fashion to categorize and pack boxes and fill the trucks.

Hialeah High School students dropped off a truckload of donated goods by noon. The mail carrier dropped off donations from as far as California. The phone wouldn't stop ringing.

THE BEGINNING

It all started with Sister Hilda Alonso, the 87-year-old nun who heads the Daughters of Charity in Miami. She ran the Colegio La Inmaculada, a school for girls in Havana before the revolution closed Catholic schools and kicked out priests and nuns. After teaching and running schools in Puerto Rico, and working in Haiti to open St. Vincent de Paul orders -- ''the need was so great'' -- she started her mission in Miami.

Since 1994, the six nuns have sent containers to Cuba with donated food, medicines and even medical equipment to help pregnant women, children with Down syndrome, patients with leprosy and the elderly in church-run retirement homes.

For years, her former Inmaculada students have dropped by the nuns' tidy, spare home with donations, knowing they will get to the right people.

As she sat at her metal desk next to her twin-size bed with a white cotton cover in her little bedroom, Sor Hilda, as the sister is called in Spanish, noted that by the end of this week the nuns will have shipped about six containers -- as much as they usually do in the entire year.

''It's been extraordinary, the generosity of those who live here,'' she told me, adding that people of all ethnicities were coming by to give.

It's not just goods -- it's also money that's needed. It costs $5,000 to ship a 40-foot container to Cuba.

I had heard about Sor Hilda's good works for years, and this summer I had visited her with a friend to learn more about this little woman from tobacco country in Pinar del Río who has taken on such a mammoth job. For all her years of hard work, she's still the Energizer Bunny -- but without the drums to call attention to herself.

As one Inmaculada volunteer told me Thursday about the nun she knew in Cuba, ``She is humility personified.''

NEVER STOPPING

Now the sisters are working around the clock to get emergency aid to Cuba. The sisters have a long record of getting U.S.-licensed goods to the island without Cuban government interference. Sor Hilda has gone there herself to ensure goods get to the nuns in La Víbora neighborhood in Havana who then distribute the donations.

The nuns in Cuba go to the docks and inspect the containers -- then one will ride with a trusted driver to make sure the food gets to those who need it and doesn't end up in the black market.

''We are sending to the places that have seen the worst devastation,'' she said.

Next week, the nuns will start collecting sheets and other needs. But today, it's all about food, water and other essentials.

Most of all, it's about unconditional love.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul are accepting food, water, medicine and linens for hurricane victims in Cuba at 500 NW 63rd Ave., Miami. Or call 305-266-6485 for more information.

Chicago Tribune editorial

Aid for the enemy

September 18, 2008

Americans have rightly focused on the terrible devastation Hurricane Ike caused in Texas and local residents' frustrated efforts to return and rebuild. Don't forget, though, that Ike caused havoc before it hit the U.S.

Back-to-back hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, destroyed thousands of homes in Cuba, wiped out crops across the island and knocked out much of its electrical grid. Cuba doesn't have the billions of dollars it needs to rebuild, but the Castro government wants nothing to do with the Bush administration's idea of help.

It would, however, like to buy some food and roofing nails and the like. The Bush administration says no.

U.S. officials have offered $100,000 in aid, but insist the money be funneled through independent humanitarian groups, not the Castro government. The U.S. State Department also offered to send disaster experts to assess the damage, hinting that more money would follow once the need was documented.

Cuban officials declined the offer, partly because they couldn't stomach the conditions and partly because Russia, Venezuela and others are willing to give money with no strings attached.

Long-standing animosity between the two governments makes it nearly unthinkable for Cuba to accept charity from the U.S., and vice versa. Then-Cuban President Fidel Castro offered to send one of his vaunted medical teams to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but the White House said no. The year before, Cuba sniffed at a U.S. offer of $50,000 in aid after Hurricane Charley, calling it "ridiculous and humiliating."

If the U.S. is sincere about helping this time, Cuba says, it can start by lifting restrictions that prevent Cuba from buying construction materials. It could also let Cuba buy food and supplies from U.S. businesses on credit, which would require a change in the policy—enacted in 2001 after Hurricane Michelle—that allows such sales, but only in cash.

Many Cuban Americans, meanwhile, want Bush to loosen restrictions on travel across the straits and suspend limits on how much money they can send to relatives on the island. They're joined by Sen. Barack Obama, who supported such changes even before hurricane season, and by Democratic congressional candidate Raul Martinez, who's trying to unseat Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Cuba policy hard-liner.

Martinez and Obama are gambling that the once-formidable Cuban exile voting bloc is losing its grip on Florida politics, inviting better relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Others, including Obama's rival Sen. John McCain, aren't ready to go there.

The Bush administration says it may increase caps on how much Americans can donate to relief agencies working in Cuba, but the nearly 50-year-old trade embargo is off limits until Cuba releases its political prisoners, holds free and fair elections and embraces American-style democracy.

"The embargo is very separate," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez says.

Tell that to the Cuban people reeling from the ravages of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

In the twisted exile logic that has long dictated our policy toward Cuba, letting them go hungry is something we do for their own good. They'll thank us later, after they shake off the communists and see the light. Not likely.

When the Castro brothers are history and the Cuban people contemplate what comes next, what they'll remember is that in September 2008, Hugo Chavez and Vladimir Putin were their friends. And we weren't.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0918edit2sep18,0,4316155.story

Political Conflict Over Aid

Posted on Wed, Sep. 17, 2008

Political dispute delaying U.S. storm aid to Cuba

BY FRANCES ROBLES

Miami Herald

In contrast to millions of dollars in relief aid sent to Haiti, the U.S. government has funneled just $100,000 to Cuba so far -- even as reports surface that the communist country's hurricane wreckage is far worse than the Castro government is letting on.

Cuba suffered island-wide destruction when Hurricane Ike smashed buildings and homes in 169 municipalities coast to coast. A new report by a Miami-based group made public Thursday indicates that 537,000 homes were damaged across the island, and 3.2 million people remain without power.

Haiti, also hit in the past weeks by a devastating string of storms that left hundreds dead and one million homeless, has received $20 million in U.S. aid.

The funding discrepancy comes as a diplomatic spat between Cuba and the United States mires relief efforts.

Although the U.S. government said Cuba's refusal to accept a disaster assesment team prevents it from doing more, criticism against Washington is beginning to mount.

The Bush administration is expediting licenses to U.S.-based organizations that allows an increase in cash that can be sent to residents on the island. Many are taking advantage of the new rules to help storm victims. But some say U.S. assistance is falling far short of what's needed.

Russia sent four cargo planes with tons of emergency supplies and construction materials, and Fidel Castro called Venezuela's aid ''most generous.'' China provided $300,000, and Cuba's state newspaper Granma said Brazil, Argentina and Mexico had also offered assistance. Spain also has sent planeloads of relief supplies.

''The United States, in the past, has acted honorably and quickly in response to hurricanes in Central America, tsunamis in Indonesia and earthquakes in Pakistan: they come in first, with the most resources and without conditions,'' said Frank Mora, a Cuba expert at the National War College in Washington.

''That has not been the case for Cuba. It's embarrassing and shameful that politics has inserted itself at a time when so many Cuban people on the island are suffering,'' Mora said.

Jorge Mas Santos, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, called the U.S. offer ``insulting.''

The U.S. government offered $100,000 and an inspection team after Hurricane Gustav hit western Cuba Aug. 30. Cuba turned down the offer, saying the country was not looking for giveaways but to make purchases.

Havana insisted the United States instead lift the provisions of the embargo that prevent Cuba from getting private credits from U.S. companies. The Cuban Foreign Ministry published a statement Thursday saying the U.S. State Department repeated the same offer Wednesday after Ike -- and it was again rejected.

''The United States government behaves cynically. It tries to suggest that it is desperate to cooperate with Cuba and that we refuse,'' the foreign ministry statement said. ``They lie unscrupulously. If they want to cooperate with the Cuban people, then we request allowing the sale to Cuba of indispensable materials, such as tarps for roofs and other items to repair homes and to reestablish the electrical network.''

Said U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez: ``Venezuela sent an assessment team -- it's standard procedure worldwide. It allows us to be effective, because it allows us to get what they want. The question is: Why do they feel threatened by the presence of a handful of technical experts who just want to help? I'm surprised that the assessment team has become such a big deal.''

The U.S. State Department said the team is not a precondition for aid but did not explain why aid wasn't sent after the team was refused.

''Although the Cuban government has declined the offer of a humanitarian assessment team, we remain willing to send one,'' State Department spokeswoman Heide Bronke said. ``We are evaluating how best to provide additional humanitarian relief for Cuban victims of this disaster.''

She added that the U.S. government increased existing authorizations for U.S.-based aid groups to provide more cash to help storm victims. CANF got such authorization, and the line grew quickly.

''We had over 400 people come fill out 600 applications,'' said CANF spokeswoman Sandy Acosta Cox. ``We were holding people in the parking area. It was like that all day.''

The political spat comes as new estimates on the extent of damages in Cuba begin to emerge. Miami-based business consultant Teo Babún, of Babún Group Consulting, said information coming from the island shows widespread devastation.

According to his organization's report, more than half a million homes were damaged and almost 350 bridges wiped out. He said 600 municipal water wells were damaged and some 500 miles of telephone and power poles are down. At least 150,000 people remain in shelters.

The town of Herradura, in the province of Pinar Del Río, was destroyed.

''I would say the situation in Cuba is similar to what we saw during Andrew in South Florida,'' Babún said. ``It's very, very bad.''

The damage estimate is from $3 billion to $4 billion, Babún said, but the Cuban government is unlikely to want to release such a dire assessment. That figure coincides with an estimate by the United Nations.

''I think the Cuban government first of all hasn't done a full assessment and is trying to double-check with their assessment teams,'' he said. ``Cuba is a military regime, so they are very concerned about providing information they consider secret or detrimental to the state. That is information they are not accustomed to giving out.''

The Cuban government also probably would be uncomfortable having a U.S. military warplane arrive in Cuba handing out aid, experts said.

''The Cuban government isn't accepting the U.S. donations; they only accept those from Russia and other friendly countries,'' said Diego Suarez of the Cuban Liberty Council. ``For them it is more important to not accept the U.S. donations than to help the people.''

Miami Herald staff writers Liza Gross, Casey Woods and Patricia Mazzei and translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.

© 2008 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.miamiherald.com

Dodd statement and amendment summary

This effective response brings relief to innocent victims of the storms and it projects an American message of concern and hope for our Caribbean neighbors.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, I can’t say the same for our response to the crisis caused by the hurricanes that have battered the lives of the 11 million citizens of Cuba. Evacuations of two million citizens helped reduce the loss of life, but the damage is immense. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike destroyed 150,000 homes and seriously damaged 200,000 others. The United Nations estimates that Cuba has suffered between $3 billion and $4 billion in losses. Hundreds of thousands of victims are without shelter, fresh water and electricity; damage to agriculture is massive; food and medicines are in short supply; and the need for materials to repair homes vastly overtakes supply.

The State Department has offered to disburse $100,000 in emergency funds through the United States Interests Section – our embassy in Havana – which is a step in the right direction. In addition, over the weekend, the State Department offered an emergency shipment of $5 million of assistance to Cuba. Cuban officials – in a short-sighted move, in my opinion – rejected the offer, saying they would not accept a handout from a country that would not sell those same items to them.

The Administration has also authorized certain U.S.-based NGOs – whose activities the Administration has previously approved – to provide larger amounts of humanitarian assistance, including cash donations to approved recipients in Cuba, for 90 days.

These government-approved channels for assistance to government-approved recipients are not nearly enough. They disallow, moreover, the outpouring of assistance from Americans who want to help directly and generously as Americans do in times of crisis – and not just through Administration-approved channels.

Large numbers in the Cuban-American community, eager to help family in Cuba directly, are blocked from doing so by tough regulations that the Administration implemented in 2004 in its effort to promote the collapse of the Castro regime. These regulations drastically impair Cuban-Americans’ ability to visit family in Cuba – even under extraordinary circumstances such as the death of a loved one – and drastically impair their ability to send cash assistance to family in the same manner as all other Caribbeans, Central Americans and Mexicans do.

Mr. President, it’s no secret that the US embargo on Cuba has been a dismal failure and, rather than weaken the Cuban government and force it to change, has only served to weaken the Cuban people and deprive them of hope. The Administration’s tougher regulations circumscribing Americans’ right to help family and friends in dire need in Cuba are part of that same failed policy.

Apparently some in the Bush Administration believe that holding firm on embargo policy – even during a humanitarian disaster – will discredit Fidel or Raul Castro and lead to their precipitous downfall. When human suffering is as massive as we see in Cuba today after these hurricanes, there’s no room for such cynicism.

Despite the obvious need for a total overhaul of policy toward Cuba, the amendment that Senator Lugar and I have introduced today addresses only the immediate humanitarian crisis, and only on a temporary basis.

• For a period of 180 days, our amendment would lift prohibitions on Americans with family in Cuba to travel to the island to provide help and hope during the crisis.

• Also for 180 days, it would ease restrictions on cash remittances by any American to Cuban people at this time of extreme need.

• It would expand the definition of gift parcels that Americans are authorized to send to Cuban people or NGOs in the next 180 days to include food, medication, clothing, hygiene items and other daily necessities.

• It would allow the cash sale, using mechanisms similar to those already in place for the sale of agricultural products, of certain items that Cubans need to rebuild their homes for a period of 180 days.

I want to be clear. These measures do not lift the embargo, but rather they merely loosen some of the less-humane regulations implemented in 2004 in direct response to a humanitarian crisis.

They are modest steps that allow the greatness and the generosity of the American people to shine through, without political and ideological filters. I can think of no better way of giving the Cuban people a message of hope than for them to feel the warm generosity and care of the American people.

The intent of this amendment has broad support. In a letter to President Bush last week, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote, “In light of the devastation and humanitarian disaster caused by recent hurricanes in Cuba and the efforts of extended families, friends and organizations to reach those in need, I urge you [President Bush] to suspend – even temporarily – Treasury and Commerce Department restrictions and licensing requirements for humanitarian travel and remittances by American citizens and assistance by not-for-profit organizations. At times of crisis, there are simple and basic acts of charity on which people rely.”

The Catholic Bishops and numerous NGOs are right, and we know it. We must help.

To those who think that refusing to help will somehow serve the U.S. national interest, I make just two observations. We need to be honest with ourselves: to be seen as wanting the Cuban people to suffer and starve – while we rush to the aid of their Caribbean neighbors – is not going to contribute to our common goal of promoting a peaceful, democratic transition in Cuba and good relations between our countries in the future.

Moreover, as we stand on the sidelines, other countries are more than willing to fill the vacuum. President Chávez of Venezuela has been “most generous,” according to press reports. Russia has sent four cargo planes with tons of emergency supplies and construction materials. China has provided $300,000, and Spain also has sent planeloads of relief supplies. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are also offering assistance – without political restrictions.

Mr. President, our amendment takes modest steps to deal with massive need.

Full text here

Dodd, Lugar Amendment Text, Cosponsors

Amendment to S3001, Defense Appropriations Bill

[Page: S8790]  GPO's PDF

SEC. 1253. EASING RESTRICTIONS ON GIFT OR RELIEF PACKAGES FOR 180 DAYS.

(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (d), for the 180-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the President may not limit the size, quantity or frequency, or the carrying, transporting or shipping of personal gift items and relief supplies (not for sale or resale) that are eligible to be shipped through existing or new mechanisms established expressly for the delivery of such packages. Such items and supplies may be sent to Cuba by any person who is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and the President shall rescind, for such 180-day period, all regulations in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act that so limit such items.

(b) Personal Gift Items.--For purposes of this section, the term ``personal gift items'' includes goods intended to improve the daily life of the Cuban people, including clothing, medication, foodstuffs, personal hygiene items, and other daily necessities.

(c) Relief Supplies.--For the purposes of this section, the term ``relief supplies'' means any item intended to provide temporary or permanent shelter to hurricane victims in Cuba, or intended to facilitate repairs to personal dwellings in Cuba damaged during the 2008 hurricane season.

(d) Statutory Construction.--Nothing in subsection (a) may be construed to prohibit the prosecution or conviction of any person committing an offense described in section 1956 of title 18, United States Code (relating to the laundering of monetary instruments) or section 1957 of such title (relating to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specific unlawful activity).

PART II--ALLOWANCE OF CASH SALE OF RELIEF SUPPLIES, FOOD, AND MEDICINES

SEC. 1261. EXEMPTION FROM PROHIBITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ON CASH SALES AND EXPORT OF FOOD, MEDICINES, AND RELIEF SUPPLIES TO CUBA FOR A PERIOD OF 180 DAYS.

(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), for the 180-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, any prohibition or restriction in law or regulation on trade or financial transactions with Cuba shall not apply with respect to the cash sale and export of any agricultural commodity, farm machinery or equipment, medicine, medical device, or relief supplies, or with respect to travel incident to the sale or delivery of any agricultural commodity, farm machinery or equipment, medicine, or medical device, or relief supplies to Cuba.

(b) Exceptions.--Subsection (a) does not apply to--

(1) any prohibition or restriction imposed under the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2401 et seq.) or successor statute for goods containing parts or components on which export controls are in effect under that section; or

(2) any prohibition or restriction imposed under section 203 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) insofar as the prohibition or restriction is exercised to deal with a threat to the national security of the United States by virtue of the technology incorporated in such machinery or equipment, or supplies.

(c) Supersedes Existing Law.--Subsection (a) supersedes the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (title IX of H.R. 5426 of the 106th Congress, as enacted into law by section 1(a) of Public Law 106-387, and as contained in the appendix of that Act) or any other provision of law.

SEC. 1262. DEFINITIONS.

In this part:

(1) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.--The term ``agricultural commodity''--

(A) has the meaning given the term in section 102 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602); and

(B) includes fertilizer.

(2) MEDICAL DEVICE.--The term ``medical device'' has the meaning given the term ``device'' in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).

(3) MEDICINE.--The term ``medicine'' has the meaning given the term ``drug'' in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 7321).

(4) RELIEF SUPPLIES.--The term ``relief supplies'' means any item intended to provide temporary or permanent shelter to hurricane victims in Cuba, or intended to facilitate repairs to personal dwellings in Cuba damaged during the 2008 hurricane season.

Cosponsors

Sen Lugar, Richard G. [IN] - 9/15/2008
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] - 9/15/2008
Sen Baucus, Max [MT] - 9/15/2008
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] - 9/16/2008
Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] - 9/16/2008
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] - 9/16/2008
Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] - 9/16/2008
Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND] - 9/16/2008
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 9/16/2008
Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. [AR] - 9/16/2008

Support for legislation to ease restrictions

Cuba Groups Urge Hurricane Aid to Cuba

Last update: 11:12 a.m. EDT Sept. 18, 2008

WASHINGTON, Sept 18, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Center for Democracy in the Americas, The Latin America Working Group, and The Washington Office on Latin America, released the following statement urging the U.S. government to provide hurricane relief for Cuba:

The United States has an opportunity to save lives - and to turn a diplomatic corner - if we can rise above politics and allow Cuban Americans to aid family members back in Cuba which has been savaged by two tropical storms and two hurricanes in just 30 days.

America's wealth, geography and large Cuban-American community make us ideally suited to see that Cubans now suffering get the shelter, food, drinking water and medicine they need. America's first instinct is always to aid victims and to save lives; we should give it free reign.

And what could be worse for the United States' standing in Latin America than to see governments as disparate as the European Union, Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, and China rushing to offer assistance to Cuba, while U.S. politics stop Cuban-Americans from responding to the needs of their relatives on the island?

Today, Cuban-American families are blocked from providing aid by restrictions tightened in 2004, and yet they could be the guiding force behind the delivery of humanitarian aid to the island.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and co-sponsor Richard Lugar (R-IN) have offered an amendment that would temporarily allow Americans with families in Cuba to travel to Cuba or to send cash and parcels including food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to relatives in Cuba, to help them recover from hurricane damage. The legislation would also allow American merchants to sell Cubans the supplies they need to rebuild damaged homes to replant ravaged farms.

Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) have introduced similar bipartisan legislation which should be considered by the House.

This suspension of economic sanctions would last only 180 days. It would cost taxpayers nothing. It would allow families to take care of their own. And it would demonstrate that America is a compassionate nation, able and eager to help end the suffering of our friends, the Cuban people.

Now, before deprivation and disease do further damage to people's lives, Congress should pass this legislation and the President should sign it.

SOURCE Center for Democracy in the Americas

Follow up letter to Delahunt hearing

September 18, 2008

The Honorable William Delahunt

The Honorable Jeff Flake

The Honorable Jo Ann Emerson

The Honorable Ray LaHood

The Honorable Ron Paul

The Honorable Donald Payne

Dear Esteemed Members of the House of Representatives

I wish to thank you for your comments and testimony on behalf of ending restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba at this morning’s hearing.

Because of the urgency of sending additional assistance to Cubans facing great hardship, I hope a means may be found to bring this issue to the floor of the House and Senate before the recess, perhaps in the form of a concurrent resolution urging that the President direct OFAC to establish until the end of his Administration a temporary general license for humanitarian travel, remittances and assistance by all Americans and IRS recognized not-for-profit organizations.

Hopefully bipartisan adoption will influence the President to reconsider his policy. His action and a recorded vote will be noted by some Americans casting ballots on November 4^th.

The following letter to the President, the Speaker and the Majority Leader of the Senate has in the last week been signed by a diverse group of more than 800 Americans, including many of Cuban origin, several of whom have attached moving personal comments.

“Because of the devastation suffered by Cuba from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and the history of conflict and suspicion between our countries, creative means must be found to enable the traditional compassion of Americans to express itself in assistance to the Cuban people in a timely fashion.

We urge an immediate 90 day suspension by Presidential order, or by legislation, of Treasury and Commerce Department restrictions and licensing requirements for humanitarian travel and remittances by all Americans and assistance from not-for-profit organizations granted tax-exempt status by the IRS.”

Signers list at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Cubafloodaid/signatures.html

The fastest and least politicized way for Americans to provide assistance to Cubans is to give all of us the freedom to go there and/or to use Western Union, with no intermediary institution receiving political or financial benefit, be it Cuban or American.

Sincerely,

John McAuliff

Executive Director