By José Llamos Camejo | internet@granma.cu

October 2, 2022

Two ships set sail with the first shipments from Venezuela to support the recovery of the island, severely hit by Ian. An operation that will have other chapters begins.

 

PUERTO DE LA GUAIRA, Venezuela –  At 12 and 43 minutes past noon on one of these midday days when the air bakes and the sun slits the stones under the cloudless sky, attached to the dock that saw José Martí enter and leave Bolivarian land, the motorboats Carmita and Karola Sky were finalizing details to set sail. Their destination, Cuba.”Our objective is to take the aid sent by the Bolivarian government to those affected by the cyclone (Ian) on the island as soon as possible,” said young Lieutenant Commander Yaimar Montes Romero, head of the 95 men who loaded the two ships in barely half a day, a feat accomplished in half the usual time for such an operation, according to Lázaro Artola Madrazo, in charge of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Cuban embassy here.

Between the two ships, they are carrying 400,000 food modules, half a hundred electrical transformers, conductor cables and more than 22,000 square meters of zinc sheets to repair the roofs of houses damaged by the hurricane.

Carola Sky and Carmita are already on their way to Cuba, loaded with sister aid. They are inaugurating a maritime bridge built by the Bolivarian government over the waters of the Caribbean Sea for the solidarity operation.

The voyage to their destination will take six and a half days (starting on October 2), said Jorge Coello Valladares, captain of the Carmita. But the operation does not end there. This is only the beginning.