An U.S. company working in the housing blame Cuba for the sinking of a barge which was carrying materials for building houses for for survivors of the earthquake of January 2010 in Haiti.

Saturday night, executives of Harbor Homes LLC said that the Cuban government denied the U.S. Coast Guard permission to enter its waters to reclaim a drifting barge carrying $2 million worth of supplies which would permit the construction of 1000 houses in Haiti. Construction materials and heavy equipment now lying at the bottom of the ocean.

This sinking dates back to December, 2010, the company Harbor Homes, a Georgia company that produces transitional shelters for areas struck by disasters, had kept silent about this incident because It hoped that its insurance company would cover the losses, which was not the case because, supposedly, due to the age of the tug...

According to interviews and e-mail exchanges between Harbor Homes and the NGO World Vision, the tug towing the barge had left Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 17. The captain had refueled to the Bahamas, but the tug's engine stopped working at about 25 kilometers easternmost coast of Cuba, victim of a fuel supply tampered with water...

According to Matt Williams spokesperson of Harbor Homes, the company immediately contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. A coastguard and a helicopter were dispatched to the scene to try to protect the barge and the tug until the arrival of another ship and fuel. U.S. Coast Guard contacted the Cuban authorities for permission to enter Cuban waters, but the access was denied.

Still according the representatives of Harbor Homes, the barge sank while the Cuban army was trying to tow it towards its coast and one of Cuban tugboat cables broke. The spokesman of the company asserts that the Cuban government is solely responsible for this shipwreck.

The Cuban authorities have not commented, following these statements that imply their responsibility.

See also:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2498-haiti-reconstruction-disillusionment-of-a-home-builder-in-haiti.html

PI/ HaitiLibre