Canadian Network on Cuba
Hurricane Irma menaced and devastated the eastern and northern Caribbean, striking Cuba from September 7-10, resulting in significant and widespread damage. Accompanied by massive flooding, its sweeping destruction encompassed housing, communications, infrastructure, agricultural equipment, crops, and community buildings.
While we are confident that the Cuban people will overcome any challenges posed by Hurricane Irma, Cuba will, nevertheless, have to expend considerable resources, both immediate and long term, in order to overcome the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Irma.
To assist Cuba in its immense efforts of recovery and reconstruction, the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC) is launching the Hurricane Irma Relief & Reconstruction for Cuba Campaign. All donations will be forwarded 100% directly to Cuba.
In recent years, the CNC has had a series of successful Hurricane Relief Campaigns. The most recent was in 2016 when Hurricane Matthew struck eastern Cuba, devastating Baracoa, Cuba’s oldest city. In 2008, the CNC’s most extensive campaign was launched when a series of hurricanes caused damage in excess of $10-billion. The CNC not only raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also directly participated in the construction of a new social and cultural centre on La Isla de La Juventud (Isle of Youth).
In 2017, as Cuba faces this latest challenge, we are confident that Canadians – as they have repeatedly done – will once again demonstrate their friendship and solidarity with Cuba by supporting the island as it recovers from the ravages of Hurricane Irma.
Our experience with regard to Cuba’s response to natural disasters is that it knows how to multiply the value of any donations it receives. We feel confident, based on the island’s unsurpassed humanitarian work – both within Cuba and in other countries – that it has the skills, the organization and the ethical and moral values to put whatever assistance it receives to the best possible use.
Even at this difficult time, in the midst of Hurricane Irma’s havoc, Cuba’s deep internationalist spirit has once again been profoundly demonstrated by the sending of more than 750 Cuban health workers to Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Haiti, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and the Bahamas.
As in past campaigns, we hope that solidarity organizations and individuals will generously support Cuba in its efforts to rebuild after this devastating hurricane.
Donations to the Hurricane Irma Relief & Reconstruction for Cuba Campaign can be made by mailing cheques made out to the Canadian Network On Cuba to:
CNC Hurricane Relief
56 Riverwood Terrace
Bolton, ON
L7E 1S4
Please write “CNC Hurricane Irma Relief Fund” on your cheque’s memo line.
-Isaac Saney, CNC National Spokesperson, September 10, 2017
