Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 9, 2008
Humanitarian Assistance to the Cuban People Following Hurricanes Gustav and IkeHurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike have caused severe damage to Cuba, displacing over one million people and destroying homes across the island. In order to assist the Cuban people in this time of crisis, the United States is taking the following steps:
- The United States is providing $100,000 in immediate emergency assistance to NGOs engaged in humanitarian relief operations in response to Gustav and is considering additional emergency aid in response to Ike.
- The United States also offered to send a humanitarian assessment team to Cuba, which is the first step in determining what additional needs exist and how the U.S. may respond. The Cuban Government declined this offer after Gustav, but the U.S. remains willing to send a team to evaluate the possibility of additional humanitarian assistance and has advised the Cuban Government that this team is still available.
- In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, the U.S. government increased existing authorizations for U.S.-based NGOs to provide larger amounts of humanitarian assistance, including in the form of cash donations, to help address the basic needs of the Cuban people. For a period of 90 days, the U.S. will expedite applications for immediate humanitarian assistance of up to $10 million per NGO, subject to appropriate restrictions.
- U.S.-based NGOs are actively engaged in providing hurricane relief to Cuban disaster victims. U.S. government regulations allow for the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people and many organizations are already licensed to provide such assistance.
- Individuals and organizations interested in assisting hurricane victims in Cuba are encouraged to provide cash donations to reputable humanitarian assistance organizations that are licensed to send humanitarian aid to Cuba.
- The American people are the largest providers of humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, and Cuba's top supplier of food. In 2007, the American people provided $240.5 million in private humanitarian assistance in the form of gift parcels filled with food and other basic necessities ($179.4 million), non-agricultural humanitarian donations ($20.6 million), and medical donations ($40.5 million). The United States government also authorized $3.65 billion in sales of agricultural products ($3.621 billion) and sales of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals ($20.6 million).
2008/699
Released on September 9, 2008
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