The U.S. government announced that it will send a new shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba worth $6 million, which will be delivered directly to the population through the Catholic Church.
On its website, the U.S. State Department informed on Feb. 5 that the decision was made "following the success of the partnership" with the Catholic Church in Cuba in distributing the first $3 million in aid.
The department explained that this second round of assistance "will be delivered through the same channel as the first $3 million, with prepackaged commodities transported from Miami and delivered by local parish representatives."
"This method has proven highly effective at ensuring that the failed Cuban regime cannot interfere with, or divert, assistance intended for the island's needy population," said the department, headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants.
As with the first delivery, "the regime must not make any effort to interfere with the provision of this lifesaving support. We remain vigilant in tracking any diversion or frustration of U.S. assistance efforts, and the regime will be accountable to the United States and its own people for any interference," the statement warned.
"Beyond this tranche of assistance, the United States stands ready to surge even greater direct support to the Cuban people. The corrupt regime must simply permit it," it added.
Following the announcement, Cuba's deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, wrote on X that it was "hypocritical to apply coercive measures" and "then announce soup and canned goods for a few."
The official was referring to the tariffs announced by the United States on countries that send oil to the island as a way to further pressure the communist regime that has governed Cuba since 1959.
On Jan. 14, Caritas Cuba — the charitable arm of the Church — received the first shipment of aid to assist those still suffering the consequences of Hurricane Melissa, which struck the island on Oct. 29, 2025.
On the same day the first shipment arrived, the Cuban ministry of foreign affairs stated that there had been "no official communication" between the two governments to confirm the shipment.
U.S. bishops' role
"It was the Cuban Catholic Church that contacted the country's authorities with the information that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) intended to serve as the channel for sending material assistance to Cuba, which would be provided by the U.S. government," the ministry reported in a statement published in the official newspaper Granma.
For its part, Caritas Cuba stated that day that the material assistance "will be distributed by the Catholic Church" and that it worked together "with Catholic Relief Services in organizing this shipment. Technical support from Caritas Germany was also received in the process."
The chargé d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, also reported that he had met with the president of the Cuban Bishops' Conference, Bishop Arturo González Amador, and the archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, to "review the progress of the distribution of humanitarian aid."
The fact that international humanitarian aid is not passing through the regime's controls marks an unprecedented event in Cuban history, since previous assistance had always required the participation and approval of the state.
On Oct. 31, 2025, before this U.S. initiative began, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH, by its Spanish acronym) reported that the regime had "established 'checkpoints' at the exit of Las Tunas province and at the entrance to Granma province, to prevent the passage of people from the western and central parts of the island carrying food and other aid, especially from Christian churches," intended to support those affected by Hurricane Melissa.
"The OCDH demands that the Cuban government allow the flow of aid from civil society and refrain from attempting to control social initiatives," the organization stated.
Continued support for humanitarian channels
The Christian Liberation Movement (MCL, by its Spanish acronym) expressed its support for the U.S. humanitarian aid effort and said that providing assistance to the population through humanitarian channels is the way to "break the relationship of forced dependence that the dictatorship has imposed for decades as a mechanism of domination."
"For the first time in history, this aid disconnects the dictatorship's direct control over the people" and is truly humanitarian and not ideological, since "it doesn't involve slogans" or require political allegiance. "For the first time, a Cuban can receive aid without supporting the regime, without thanking the regime, without being politically dependent on the regime," the organization stated in a press release.
The MCL recalled that in July 2021 — after the protests that the government responded to with repression — it called on the international community to implement "11 concrete actions to isolate the Cuban regime, in solidarity with the freedom of the Cuban people."
"In point 10 of those actions, we requested the creation of a humanitarian channel that would allow aid to be sent directly to the Cuban people while isolating the regime," the MCL pointed out.
The Christian Liberation Movement noted that "this aid, distributed by the Church and supervised by the donors, not by the Cuban state, makes concrete an essential idea: international pressure must be directed at the oppressive power, and solidarity must reach — without political intermediaries — those who are suffering."
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
