From abroad, offers of aid for Katrina victims

[IndianaGreen]

The US has rejected Cuban aid and has been reluctant to publicly admit the generous offer by Chavez. Let the poor die rather than accept help from Cuba and Venezuela. BTW, in the last couple of days the US has also rejected help from Israel and Germany.

From abroad, offers of aid for Katrina victims

Author: Pamella Saffer

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 09/08/05 10:17

Offers of hurricane relief aid have poured into the U.S. from more than 90 nations, rich and poor alike.

Cuba and Venezuela were the first to offer help, although Cuba is not included in the list of donors distributed by the U.S. State Department.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Aug. 31 that its state-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. had already pledged $1 million for hurricane aid plus a battalion from the Simon Bolivar humanitarian team, two mobile hospital units, specialists in rescue operations, water purifying plants, electricity generators, and tons of bottled water and food. Citgo has a network of oil refineries and gas stations in the U.S. It opened its Lake Charles, La., refinery to give shelter and aid to some 2,000 area residents.

In an Aug. 30 statement from its Cuba Interests Section in Washington, Cuba expressed condolences for the victims and offered immediate medical assistance (see page 7 for full story). The offer was reiterated Sept. 2 and 3.

A solidarity message from the National Assembly of People’s Power of the Republic of Cuba said: “This disaster, with its death toll and suffering, affects all citizens of the United States, but its scourge is felt all the more strongly by African Americans and by poor Latino and U.S. workers, who constitute the majority of those who are still waiting to be rescued and taken to safe places, and account for the greatest number of fatal victims and people who have lost their homes.

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7693/1/285