A person performs mechanical work on an electric tricycle in Havana on Thursday. The Cuban government acknowledged that the National Electric System is in critical share, with blackouts in Havana exceeding 22 hours a day in recent days, while in other provinces the outages have lasted two consecutive days. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA
May 14 (UPI) -- The United States has made formal a $100 million humanitarian aid offer for Cuba, while the island's government said for the first time it is willing to hear the proposal amid massive blackouts, fuel shortages and growing political tensions between Havana and Washington.
The reaction marks a shift from the Cuban foreign minister's initial position. Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla publicly denied that Havana received a formal proposal from Washington and described statements by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a "fable" and a "$100 million lie."
However, in a new message published Thursday on X, Rodríguez said that "for the first time, the U.S. government is publicly formalizing, through a State Department statement, an offer of aid to Cuba valued at $100 million" and said Havana is "willing to hear the characteristics of the offer and the way it would materialize."
