By Simon Lewis and Dave Sherwood
WASHINGTON/HAVANA, Jan 15 - The U.S. State Department's top aid official on Thursday said Cuba's authorities must not interfere with a shipment of humanitarian aid to its people and suggested President Donald Trump could take action if Cuba does not comply.
Trump has vowed to stop oil and money from longtime backer Venezuela from reaching Cuba after the January 3 operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a measure that analysts say could be catastrophic for Cuba's already ailing fuel supply, electrical grid and economy.
But the State Department said this week it would finally deliver $3 million of aid pledged to the Cuban people in the wake of Hurricane Melissa in October.
The hurricane ravaged eastern Cuba, isolating communities, destroying homes and flooding cropland.
CUBA QUESTIONS U.S. MOTIVES BUT ACCEPTS AID
Cuba has questioned Washington's motives for sending the aid 77 days after it was announced and more than two months after the storm`s passage, but said it would accept the contributions and ensure they were distributed to those affected by the hurricane.
The aid would be channeled through Cuba's Catholic Church and closely monitored, said Jeremy Lewin, senior U.S. official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs, and religious freedom, adding that the U.S. would hold Cuba "accountable" if any aid was diverted.
"This is our hemisphere, and as the president said after the operation to capture Maduro, you know, American dominance in our hemisphere will not be questioned ever again," Lewin said, adding that the case of Venezuela "should make clear to the Cuban regime and every other despot around the world that you don't play games with President Trump."
Vice Foreign Minister Carlos de Cossio later decried Lewin's comments on X as "apocalyptic threats" and said Washington failed to comprehend support for the Cuban government.
Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday that the U.S. move to send the aid now was "opportunistic" and "political manipulation" disguised as a humanitarian gesture, but that it would assure its appropriate use regardless.
Cuba's collapsed economy, including widespread shortages of fuel, food and medicine, has complicated recovery efforts following the storm.
The United States has piled dozens of new sanctions on the Communist-run country since a trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington and Dave Sherwood in Havana; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Rod Nickel)
