In a letter sent to 14ymedio, Reverend Bernard Cocker, director of the International Aid Trust, explains his growing concern with this “sad episode” and its lack of solutions.
14ymedio, Havana, July 5, 2024 — Since March, Cuban authorities have been holding in the port of Mariel a container of humanitarian aid sent from the United Kingdom by the religious organization International Aid Trust to the evangelical Church En Jesucristo Libres (Rehoboth Ministries), based in Havana. After the corresponding complaints, the Government has alleged that the shipment contains “prohibited items that could be used in a rebellion” and that the sender, the Reverend Bernard Cocker, has “some relationship” with Ukraine, a country that is an “enemy of Russia.”
In a letter sent to 14ymedio on Friday, Cocker, director of the International Aid Trust, explains his growing concern with this “sad episode” and the lack of solutions. The container, shipped on March 6 from the port of Liverpool, contains wheelchairs, clothing, mattresses, food and toys. In addition, according to religious media, the shipment also contains electric batteries, microphones and musical instruments, for a total value of more than $6,500.
“They have decided to appropriate the aid and continue to give us excuses to make the claim deadline expire,” he says. Another excuse given by the authorities is that they were not informed about the arrival of the container, something that Cocker categorically denies.
“Our people in Cuba contacted the port authorities daily about the arrival and status of the cargo”
“Our people in Cuba contacted the port authorities daily about the arrival and status of the cargo,” he said. The authorities also said that the International Aid Trust had lied to them, since the clothes were new and not donated, to which the re