PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A U.S. housing company is blaming Cuba for the loss of a barge loaded with supplies to build shelters for displaced earthquake survivors in Haiti.
Executives with Harbor Homes LLC said late Saturday 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 humanitarian supplies bound for the quake-devastated Caribbean country.
As a result, the barge carrying cargo to build 1,000 homes in Haiti sank in December as the Cuban military attempted to tow it ashore. A tow line snapped and the barge ran aground, scattering building supplies, three tractors, and a bulldozer into the Atlantic, company officials said.
