Cuban to send doctors to US for hurricane relief effort
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-03 16:01

President Fidel Castro announced in a live television broadcast Friday that he had just issued a second offer to the United States to send Cuban doctors to help care for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

President Bush leans on Lousiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco as FEMA Director Mike Brown, left, and Sen. David. Vitter, R-La., right, look on following a news conference at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Friday, Sept. 2, 2005. Bush is touring the Gulf Coast communities battered by Hurricane Katrina, hoping to boost the spirits of increasingly desperate storm victims and exhausted rescuers. [AP]

Castro said a diplomatic note containing the note was sent late Friday afternoon to the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission here, and was the second such offer of its kind made this week.

Castro said the first offer to send Cuban doctors to aid in hurricane relief efforts was made during a meeting with Cuban foreign ministry and U.S. officials in Havana on Tuesday, days before the extent of the hurricane's catastrophic damage was known.

At the time, American officials had asked Cuban authorities not to publicize their offer of aid, said Castro, who indicated Havana was still awaiting a response from Washington.

"(American) authorities are going through a difficult time, we are not asking for anything," said Castro, whose country has not had diplomatic relations with the United States in more than four decades. "We're not criticizing anyone."