The U.S. State Department’s top aid official on Thursday warned Cuban authorities not to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid to the island and suggested that President Donald Trump could take action if Cuba does not comply.
The warning from Jeremy Lewin, a senior State Department official, comes as the United States prepares to deliver $3 million in assistance promised to the Cuban people after Hurricane Melissa in October.
“This is our hemisphere and as the president said after the operation to capture Maduro, American dominance in our hemisphere will not be questioned again,” Lewin said.
The aid would be channeled through Cuba’s Catholic Church and would be closely monitored by the State Department, he added.
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The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the United States government “is taking advantage of what would seem to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and political manipulation purposes.”
“Cuba accepts this donation without conditions and understanding that it is a gesture of the people of the United States who support, with their contributions, the public funds used by the government,” he highlighted.
The assistance for those affected by the devastating passage of Hurricane Melissa, which affected the eastern provinces of the island at the end of October, comes after Donald Trump recently promised to prevent oil and money from Venezuela from reaching Havana following the January 3 military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.
With information from Reuters
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