The National Association of Friendship Italy-Cuba (Anaic) reported today on the dispatch of two new solidarity shipments to Cuba, aimed at supporting the island’s population in the face of the intensified economic blockade imposed by the United States.

According to a statement from the organization, significant participation in one of these initiatives came from the foundation named after the late journalist Gianni Miná, as well as from the Local Health Enterprise of the Italian capital (ASL Roma 1), a public institution providing medical assistance in Rome.

Marco Papacci, president of Anaic, highlighted in remarks to Prensa Latina the support provided by Loredana Macchietti, president of the aforementioned foundation and widow of Miná, along with Giuseppe Quintavalle, general director of ASL Roma 1, and Silvia Sergio, director of the Complex Operating Unit of that entity.

Also contributing to this effort were the General Confederation of Italian Labor (CGIL), the country’s largest trade union and one of the most significant at the regional level, and MediCuba Europe, a network of associations and nongovernmental organizations from more than ten European countries that supports Cuba’s health system.

The shipment sent the previous day includes supplies and medical-surgical equipment of high assistance value, such as ventilators, incubators, multiparameter monitors, ultrasound scanners, and optical microscopes, in addition to operating room and hospital service equipment, including surgical lamps and mechanical cribs, among other items.

Also being sent to the island are sanitary materials and medical-surgical products, intended to alleviate the grave situation faced by the Cuban people as a consequence of the criminal blockade implemented by the United States for over six decades, which has been aggravated by genocidal measures of the current administration.

Papacci also announced the loading, last Tuesday, of another container—the third since June of this year—as part of solidarity actions framed within the centennial celebration of the birth of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution.

The organization of that shipment involved the Coordination of Associations of the Lombardy Region, which promoted a campaign carried out through various local entities, spurred by Anaic and other organizations in solidarity with Cuba.

This third shipment of support to the Cuban people, to which other organizations from the Liguria region also contributed, includes medicines, materials, and health equipment, as well as bicycles and other means of transport.

The aid will be destined for the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), whose national leadership will manage its distribution to the health centers most in need, as necessary support “at a time when an attempt is being made to suffocate the Cuban people and even deny them access to essential health resources,” the text states.

“Internationalism, the defense of sovereignty, and the universal right to health are confirmed as our most forceful response” because “the solidarity of peoples cannot be blocked!” the Anaic statement adds.