MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — CubaMax, a shipping company with offices in Miami-Dade County, was only allowing one box per customer, as Cubans in South Florida rushed to send aid to relatives on the communist island.
There were chairs outside to help the customers who were waiting in line at CubaMax offices in Westchester, Hialeah, and Miami’s Little Havana. The boxes had everything from powder milk to shampoo.
Aide Gutierrez said she had to make sacrifices in South Florida to be able to afford sending a box to her relatives in Cuba, who are dealing with everything from power disruptions to fuel shortages.
“I have everyone there,” said Gutierrez, a CubaMax customer in Miami-Dade.
Sarbelio Alfaro, also a CubaMax customer, said his box had dry bags of rice and beans for his two brothers, who are ill and are likely going to have to wait to have power to be able to cook them.
“My brothers aren’t doing well,” Alfaro said.
Milagros Leon, another CubaMax customer, said she doesn’t want her loved ones to suffer, so she hopes the U.S. government continues to allow the shipments amid shortages of food and medicine.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba after stopping oil shipments from Venezuela and the U.S. military’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are both held in New York.
Last week, U.S. Department of State Senior Official Jeremy Lewin, whose mother was born in Havana, announced an additional $6 million in aid to be delivered by the Catholic Church and Caritas. It’s set to include tuna cans, rice, beans, and much-needed solar lamps.
On Sunday night, Cuban aviation officials reported airlines aren’t allowed to refuel jets at nine airports on the island. Air Canada suspended flights to Cuba on Monday.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel welcomed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s two Navy ships with more than 800 tons of humanitarian aid, including milk, rice, beans, and canned tuna.
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