This mobile team will be transferred to Pinar del Río to meet the urgent water and sanitation needs of the population most affected by the passage of Hurricane Ian and will allow the country’s authorities to move it to carry up to 15,000 liters of treated water per day to the communities that need it most. This will facilitate access to safe water on a regular basis for many families.

The plant, which also has a kit of materials to promote hygiene habits and to meet the most urgent sanitation needs, was channeled in coordination with the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) and the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources. (INRH).

Regarding this important contribution, Consuelo Vidal, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, expressed:

“The United Nations System will continue to redouble actions to help and reinforce the efforts of the Government of Cuba in the response to the emergency of Hurricane Ian and in recovery actions to improve the living conditions of the affected people, in particular, of the most vulnerable.”

This long-term, sustainable solution – the plant has a useful life of 20 years – supports the recovery efforts of affected communities and improves the country’s resilience to natural disasters.

About 3.2 million people in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud were affected by the severe impact of Hurricane Ian in the western region of Cuba.
It is estimated that one million people need support. Nearly 636,218 children and adolescents from zero to 18 years of age live in the affected provinces, of which 223,000 reside in the most vulnerable municipalities.
47,000 people still do not have access to drinking water in Pinar del Río and in most of the places where the service is provided it is done by means of tanker trucks.
The United Nations System in Cuba supports recovery efforts with interventions in the sectors of Water, Hygiene and Sanitation, Education, Food Security, Housing and Health.

(Taken from Unicef)

The two-kilowatt power equipment comes from the European Union and is manufactured in China, distributed in the four provinces of central Cuba (Camagüey, Ciego Ávila, Sancti Spíritus and Villa Clara), which were affected in 2017. by Hurricane Irma, specifically in the northern municipalities.

In statements to the local press, engineer Juan Carlos Lacaba, main specialist of the Renewable Energy Sources Business Unit, attached to the Provincial Electric Company, assured that the most remote coastal towns of Nuevitas, Sierra de Cubitas, Minas and Esmeralda will be the beneficiaries, in the case of Camagüey.

“The UNDP focuses with this donation on vulnerable families, with women with more than one child and that their housing was in unfavorable construction conditions, that is also the policy of the Cuban state, in addition all these nuclei were affected by Hurricane Irma, and they are people who do not have current by any means of the National Electroenergetic System”, he said.

Already in Camagüey, in the four mentioned coastal municipalities “109 panels of this type of the 342 have been assembled, and instructions and training have been given to people for their use, since there are equipment that cannot be connected because they have more power than the one admitted”, argued the engineer.

Modern panels, “one of the best that has entered Cuba, and these systems have advantages, since they resist inductive loads, they also have motors with a rotating process, and great autonomy due to their battery that allows them, even if the day is without sun or in a cold front, load up and put yourself at the service of the family”, according to Lacaba.

In July, the United Nations Undersecretary General and UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Luis Felipe López-Calva, was in the largest of the Antilles and exchanged with Cuban authorities.

His stay was crucial to discuss the cooperation established by the Program with the Caribbean nation in the framework of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, expressed in the National Economic and Social Development Plan.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

Party Political Bureau member and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla posted a tweet thanking Russia for a humanitarian donation that arrived in Cuba aboard two aircraft July 25.

“I am grateful for the shipment of humanitarian aid from the government of the Russian Federation, a symbol of the excellent relations of friendship and solidarity that unite our sister countries,” the Foreign Minister stated, just hours before two modern An-124 aircraft were scheduled to land at Havana’s José Martí International Airport, carrying 88 tons of food and protective equipment, including one million medical facemasks.

At the site where the donation was unloaded, Minister of Domestic Commerce Betsy Díaz Velázquez reiterated the nation’s thanks for the gesture of solidarity and explained that our country is facing a difficult situation with many shortages, mainly of food, as a result of the tightening of the U.S. blockade.
Photo: Ismael Batista

The Russian Federation’s ambassador in Cuba, Andrei Guzkov, noted that his staff is working closely with Cuban authorities, to determine other specific needs, including medicines, with a view toward including these items in future donations.

(Taken from Granma)

In his account in twitter, the president remembered the World Blood Donor´s Day, celebrated today.

Covid-19, having stopped so many things, has not being able to stop this solidarity movement in Cuba, he wrote.

Cuba joins the celebration of this date by declaring a Blood Donor National Day starting June 6.

On that date, 51 years ago, historic leader of Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, made a blood donation in the capital to help the Peruvian people after having undergone a devastating earthquake.

Voluntary blood donations in the country make it possible, apart from other health care needs, for urgent and complex operation to take place, apart from guaranteeing the support of the mother-child national program.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

On Facebook, the Canadian association announced Saturday afternoon the arrival of syringes, gloves, medicines, face masks, bandages, gauze and disposable gowns, among other necessary medical supplies, at Holguín´s ‘Frank País’ International Airport.

Dr. Rebeca Robles, official of Holguin’s Provincial Direction of Public Health, recognized the Canadian association´s altruistic donation worth over $65,000. This medical donation will be sent to Holguín Children´s Hospital.

‘This is an example of the ¨Bridge of Love¨ program among brotherly nations, as the US blockade against Cuba is tightened and damages the purchasing of pivotal resources to cover medical and hospital assistance for over one million inhabitants.’

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

Miguel Díaz-Canel tweeted that ‘China donates 38 lung ventilators to Cuba. Our gratitude (…) for its permanent solidarity and faithful friendship.’

On Friday, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelino Medina and the Chinese Ambassador in Cuba Chen Xi signed the certificate of donation delivery.

The ventilators, 30 portable and eight invasive mechanical ones, will help to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, by reinforcing intensive care units (ICUs).

Cuba´s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez considered the donation as a new expression of close friendship and solidarity between both nations.

Meanwhile, Chen Xi reiterated China´s will to continue supporting Cuba in fighting the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)