Havana - Cuban dissidents sent an open letter to United States President George W Bush to temporarily lift restrictions on Cuba so that voluntary organizations and Cubans living abroad could send aid to the victims of Hurricane Gustav. "We ask you to at least, for a period of two months, lift restrictions from the embargo that pertain to the ties between exiled Cubans and those who live on the island, referring to remittances, packages and travels," said the letter, which was made public Thursday in Havana.
The letter was signed by Martha Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca, representatives of a dissident group called Agenda For Transition.
"You will agree with us that any relative abroad would like to be able to have physical contact with those who are going through this difficult situation," the letter said.
"Aware of the intransigence of the Cuban government to accept help from your country, we have addressed the highest level (in the United States) to request that it allows US non-governmental organizations to aid this region to alleviate the suffering of its inhabitants," the dissidents said.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in an article published Wednesday that Hurricane Gustav hit the country like an "atomic bomb."
He called on his compatriots to prepare themselves for tough times and to reverse the effects of the hurricane using every piece of material that was available.
"We have to fight our superficiality and selfishness," the aging Castro said.
While there were no deaths reported in Cuba, Gustav damaged an estimated 100,000 homes, destroyed power and telephone networks and ruined crops worth millions of dollars.
Gustav hit western Cuba on Saturday as a category-4 hurricane in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of more than 230 kilometres per hour. The smaller island, Isla de la Juventud, and the region of Pinar del Rio were particularly devastated.
Two aeroplanes arrived in Cuba from Russia on Thursday, carrying tents and other items for those rendered homeless.
"At this time, the residents of that affected area in the country need the hatred and the resentments to be cast aside, and (they need) the existing situation to be de-politicized to be turned into what it really is, a humanitarian problem affecting all Cubans," the dissidents said.
