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Castro accepts US Wilma aid
28/10/2005 08:41 - (SA)
Havana - President Fidel Castro confirmed on Thursday that Cuba would accept United States help in rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Wilma struck the island.
"We have no objection at all that the three US officials visit us to give their assessments and hold an exchange on these matters," Castro said on state television, reading a letter to the US interests section in Havana.
US state department spokesperson Sean McCormack said the US offered on Monday to send in a needs-assessment team after the storm, which knocked out power and forced the evacuation of some 260 000 Cubans.
It was the first time in US state department memory the Marxist island state has said yes to US largesse.
Cuba had offered to send 100 doctors to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina, which lashed the US Gulf Coast on August 29, but Washington turned them down.
Cuba was making repairs to Havana's landmark seaside walk, the Malecon.
Army engineer brigades began reconstruction of 13 sections of the 7km sea wall and the clearing of two flooded road tunnels in the capital, said a second lieutenant, Eliecer Barban.
- AFP
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