Open Arms’ Astral sailboat returns to Havana with seven tons of aid

The Astral entered Havana Bay at dusk on Sunday, drawing questions from onlookers about the vessel and its passengers as it approached the city’s cruise terminal. The Open Arms sailboat carried seven tons of humanitarian aid, just over a month after making its first trip to Cuba.

The vessel left Cancún, Mexico, on Saturday for the organization’s second mission to the island. Its cargo includes medical supplies, powdered milk, school materials and other basic necessities. Nearly three tons consist of equipment and supplies for hemodialysis.

Mexican civil society donated the materials for Havana’s Abelardo Buch López Institute of Nephrology and Juan Manuel Márquez University Pediatric Hospital. The Astral will be unloaded on Monday, followed by a welcome ceremony with local authorities. On Wednesday, the aid will be delivered to the two hospitals. The crew will also review the results of the previous donation before returning to Barcelona.

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When we arrived in July, we saw up close what was happening in the hospitals and, above all, what was missing. We could have completed the mission and gone home, but when you know exactly what they need and that you can do something, you can no longer say you did not know. That is why we came back.

The sailboat first reached Havana on July 19 as part of the “Heading to Cuba” mission. It had departed Barcelona on May 14, stopping at several Spanish ports before crossing the Atlantic with seven tons of aid. That journey covered 6,200 miles, or nearly 10,000 kilometers. The €160,000 donation, backed by more than 4,000 donors, included a photovoltaic system, medical supplies and an ultrasound scanner for the pediatric hospital.

“When we arrived in July, we saw up close what was happening in the hospitals and, above all, what was missing. We could have completed the mission and gone home, but when you know exactly what they need and that you can do something, you can no longer say you did not know. That is why we came back,” said Oscar Camps, Open Arms’ founder. The organization, founded in 2015 during the Mediterranean refugee crisis, says it has saved more than 70,000 lives. For local observer Lázaro Jubel, the help is needed: “It is quite an achievement to have set out from Cancún in that sailboat. Those waters make you seasick. But we really need the aid.”

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It is quite an achievement to have set out from Cancún in that sailboat. Those waters make you seasick. But we really need the aid.