Over 90 countries offered assistance to the United States after Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught devastated the Gulf coast region.The aid offers came from some of the world’s poorest countries, and the richest. The immense response and number of similar offers forced the US State Department to decline many.

The countries of Latin America were especially forthcoming with support offers. Mexico’s offer of food and water was accepted right away, no doubt due to its proximity to the affected areas. Mexico sent 15 truckloads of water, food and medical supplies via Texas. The Mexican navy offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles. The convoys also included two mobile kitchen units that were prepared to feed 7,000 people a day and three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water-treatment plants.

Colombia offered 30 lifeguards with experience conducting search and rescue missions as well as 10 tons of vitamin-fortified flour for food to be prepared for those stranded in New Orleans.

Some countries put political interest aside to offer assistance. Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez ignored the recently brewing tension between himself and the United States to offer cheap fuel, humanitarian aid, and relief workers for disaster areas. While the United States rejected the humanitarian assistance, it did accept the inexpensive fuel.

Cuba’s Fidel Castro offered to send 1,586 bi-lingual Cuban doctors and 37 tons of medicines and medical equipment to the devastated areas. They could have been dispatched immediately on Cuban aircraft, at no cost to the United States. Fort-Lauderdale-based Gulfstream Airways also immediately offered to fly all the doctors to the United States, free of charge, if there had been any difficulty in sending the doctors on Cuban aircraft. There was no response from Washington.

According to Wayne Smith, former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, “Given the desperate situation on the Gulf Coast, one might have expected a rapid response from Washington, especially as MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba), a nonprofit MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba), a nonprofit association based in Atlanta, described the Cuban doctors as highly trained and noted that ‘Cuba’s experience and expertise in disaster management is so relevant to the current crisis and its aftermath in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.’ . . . What a shame. Not even in the face of the massive human suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina could the Bush Administration put aside its knee-jerk rejection of anything coming out of Cuba.”

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane, battered Cuba with 160-mpr winds. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm, to sites already well stocked with food, water, medicines, and doctors. Although the hurricane destroyed 20,000 houses, no one in Cuba died. After Hurricane Ivan, the UN International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction cited Cuba as a model for hurricane preparation, saying, “The Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does.”

Even Cuban-American Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) responded to the Cuban offer of medical assistance by saying, “If we need doctors and Cuba offers them and they provide a good service, then of course we should accept them and we’re grateful for that offer.” However, Cold War tensions have frozen out help from Cuba. The United States finally formally rejected Cuba’s office of medical assistance stating that the United States had enough qualified doctors. What a shame.