Three hurricanes (Ike, Gustav and Paloma) ravaged Cuba in 2008, causing over $10 billion in losses. Half a million homes were partially or fully destroyed, thousands of acres of crops wiped out, and health and communications infrastructure severely damaged in some areas.
Predictably, those areas have not yet bounced back. But Brazil has been a great source of aid to the island in the meantime, and just today sent another $12.5 million worth of rice, powdered milk, and fruit and vegetable seeds to victims of the disasters.
This is a good example of how Brazil has made its leadership in Latin America an alternative to that of the United States. Cuba policy is one of many ways in which it differentiates itself: it accepts Cuba into leadership forums where the United States rejects the nation, it offers trade and unconditional aid to the island, and Brazilian President Lula, in his recent meeting with President Obama, even encouraged the new executive to improve ties with regional foes Cuba and Venezuela. What effect this will have on the new Administration, which has expressed its desire for a closer partnership with Brazil, remains to be seen.
