By Ayose Naranjo
HAVANA, March 24 (Reuters) - Cuba on Tuesday received a shipment of humanitarian aid from the Nuestra America Convoy, an international effort organized by global activists seeking to circumvent U.S. sanctions that severely restrict shipments of fuel and other goods to the island.
The aid arrived in a small ship that departed last week from the port of Progreso in Mexico and entered Havana Harbor early on Tuesday, delivering 14 tons of food, medicine, solar panels and bicycles to Cuban authorities. It was one of three ships in a flotilla of aid to depart from Progresso, with the other two due to arrive later.
The ship supplemented another 6 tons of goods flown in by activists over the past week, when their deliveries to hospitals were given prominent airtime on Cuban state television news.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel last week received members of the convoy at the presidential palace, including European politicians such as former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The Nuestra America (Our America) coalition includes nearly 300 organizations from more than 30 countries, among them non-governmental groups, unions, political parties and lawmakers.
“It’s only a first step. Much more support will follow,” Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, who made the voyage from Mexico, said after disembarking.
Tuesday’s delivery, delayed several days by poor sailing weather in the Caribbean, was nonetheless largely a symbolic gesture in a country facing a near-catastrophic economic crisis that has severely impeded transportation, healthcare and electricity generation.
The Trump administration has cut off fuel supplies to the island nation, and threatened to slap tariffs on countries that deliver oil to Cuba.
The show of support comes shortly after Costa Rica joined Ecuador in severing diplomatic relations with Cuba, a blow to a nation that has long touted its diplomatic ties with countries throughout the world.
The boat that arrived in Havana on Tuesday, named “Maguro,” was rechristened “Granma 2” by its crew, in reference to the yacht on which Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban revolution, landed in 1956 to begin the revolutionary struggle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
(Reporting by Ayose Naranjo in Havana; Editing by Dave Sherwood and Lincoln Feast)
