And JUAN O. TAMAYO
Herald Staff Writers
Catholic relief workers plan to fly from Miami to Cuba by this weekend to deliver 70,000 pounds of donated food after the Clinton administration agreed to let them rush hurricane relief directly to the island.
``I'm pretty pumped because it looks like this is going to work,'' said Chris Gilson, Cuba program manager for Catholic Relief Services, the Baltimore-based international relief organization that is spearheading Cuban hurricane aid. ``I'll believe it when the plane lands in Cienfuegos,'' in the area hardest hit by Hurricane Lili last week.
The administration agreed late Tuesday to let Catholic relief organizations fly a planeload of donations directly from Miami to Cuba and to send along American monitors to ensure aid reaches the needy. The U.S. government had halted direct flights to the island after Cuban MiGs shot down two Miami exile search planes last year.
Relief organizers are now awaiting final permission from the Cuban government to deliver the goods to Caritas Cuba, the church's charitable arm on the island.
Caritas director Rolando Suarez in Havana, interviewed by phone, said he sent the Cuban government a note Wednesday detailing what was in the 70,000-pound shipment and asking for an OK to fly it in. He had yet to hear back from the government by Wednesday evening, but expected no problems, he said.
``We have done this in previous disasters and with other flights and have had no problems,'' Suarez said.
The Archdiocese of Miami's Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services are chartering a cargo plane, probably a Boeing 707, to deliver about 70,000 pounds of rice, beans, milk and canned meats to south-central Cuba, organizers said.
The goods will most likely go to the province of Cienfuegos, which had no lights or water as of Tuesday. The supplies could arrive as early as Friday if Cuba gives its approval and the Clinton administration quickly produces the required travel licenses, said Chris Tucker, director of Latin America and the Caribbean for the Catholic Relief Services.
``There are so many moving parts of this and so many things that can still go wrong,'' said Father Thomas Wenski, director of Catholic Charities in Miami and one of the monitors who will accompany the donations to Cuba.
``We're moving pretty quickly considering we're dealing with Cuba, a country there are no relations with,'' he added.
Despite concerns among some exiles in Miami that the Cuban government might get control of some of donated food and other supplies, Suarez insisted that Caritas' long-established system will ensure the donations will go directly to needy Cubans.
``Based on damage reports, we propose which families will get the help. We coordinate with the government, but there will be Caritas people who will deliver the goods,'' Suarez said. ``This is nothing new, and there's no agreement to give the government anything.''
In the past, some medical equipment and sophisticated medicines received by Caritas have been delivered to state-run hospitals -- the only type on the island besides seven church-run old people's homes. But Suarez pointed out: ``To give [sophisticated medicines] directly to Cubans could mean killing them.''
He added that Caritas workers are assigned to each hospital to ensure that the equipment and medicines are not stolen or diverted to VIPs or dollar-paying tourists, but are used ``for Cubans and completely free of charge.''
The first major humanitarian shipment received by Caritas soon after its creation in 1992 was shared with the the Cuban government, Suarez said. But Caritas later decided not to do that again, and all shipments since then have been monitored by Caritas workers.
Catholic Relief Services has sent about $10 million of humanitarian aid to Cuba through Caritas Cuba in recent years, Gilson said.
In recent days, South Floridians have donated about 300,000 pounds of food and other supplies to provide hurricane relief, he said.
The first shipment of about 70,000 pounds of food will be the largest single donation Caritas has ever received, Gilson said.
``This is a huge challenge for Caritas in terms of the logistics involved,'' he said. ``Their ability to manage all that is going to be pretty firmly tested. We don't want to over-saturate them.
``We'll just see how this shipment goes, and if it goes well, we'll send the next one quickly.''
Suarez is concerned by reports that some radio stations in Miami, which have been spearheading the collection drive, have urged Cubans on the island to go directly to their parish churches and demand the Caritas aid on the spot, he said.
``That would be chaotic,'' Suarez said. ``We need to coordinate all charity. That's logical. We have to have lists of who was most affected by this hurricane, who lost houses, who needs food. We cannot have everyone everywhere.''