ACERE Statement on U.S. Humanitarian Aid to Cuba After Hurricane Melissa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — November 3, 2025

Washington, DC — In the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s devastation in eastern Cuba, the United States has announced it is prepared to provide humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, including through an official Declaration of Humanitarian Assistance and a new fact sheet outlining pathways for private donations of food, medicine, and other relief supplies. For years, similar announcements have too often amounted to public messaging with little operational follow-through. This time, there appear to be real steps underway, but politics and policy design still stand between urgent needs and timely delivery. ACERE commends the State Department for offering humanitarian aid to the Cuban people, who have endured harsh living conditions, particularly in the last five years.

The State Department’s guidance confirms that U.S. law already contains exemptions and authorizations for humanitarian aid; it also points would-be donors into a thicket of licenses, carve-outs, and conditions that are notoriously slow and confusing in the middle of a disaster. Independent experts have flagged the core contradiction: the framework permits “infrastructure” support that benefits hospitals, yet bars direct donations (like medicines) to those same public hospitals because they are state-run. Banks and shippers, wary of sanctions compliance risk, often refuse or delay transactions, making it difficult for even vetted organizations to move money and goods when hours matter. The result is predictable: help trickles, not surges. 

We acknowledge reports that Catholic bishops in Cuba and Caritas are taking steps to coordinate approximately $3 million in relief routed via church institutions. That is welcome and should proceed at speed. But channeling assistance only through “local partners” while avoiding cooperation with the public authorities that run health, electricity, water, and housing systems, the critical systems families depend on after a hurricane, turns relief into a hybrid of aid and public relations. In major disasters, effective coordination includes government agencies and U.N. implementers alongside churches, NGOs, and community groups. With millions in urgent need, the choice should be delivery, not optics.

ACERE’s position is straightforward: If the intent to assist is genuine, the United States should match words with steps already used by Washington in other sanctioned countries that make aid fast, lawful, and scalable:

1. Create a Disaster General License (DGL) for 120 days that authorizes direct donations and sales of emergency goods and services (medical supplies, power restoration equipment, water and sanitation, shelter materials) to public hospitals, utilities, and local authorities when used strictly for disaster response and verified by recognized third parties (e.g., U.N. agencies, ICRC, Caritas/faith networks).
2. Issue safe-harbor guidance to banks and shippers: a Treasury/OFAC bulletin assuring that transactions clearly covered by the DGL will not trigger enforcement, so U.S. and third-country banks can process payments and couriers can move cargo without weeks-long reviews or account closures.
3. Stand up a single federal help desk (State/OFAC/BIS) with 48-hour responses for Melissa-related cases, publish a plain-English checklist, and temporarily waive duplicative filings where Commerce and Treasury already agree the items are humanitarian.

We recognize concerns about end-use and transparency. These can be addressed with targeted verification and post-delivery audits, not by withholding relief that saves lives and restores basic services. In practical terms, the fastest way to reach families after a catastrophe is to let credible and experienced implementers work with all operators of essential services—public and non-public—under time-bound, monitorable rules.

Cuba’s communities, churches, civic groups, and public service providers are digging out from Melissa right now. If the United States truly prioritizes the Cuban people, it should cut the red tape it controls—part of the economic and financial embargo—empower legitimate channels at scale, and ensure that aid is measured by truckloads delivered and circuits re-energized, not by press releases.