U.S. firefighting experts have provided technical advice to Cuban officials regarding the fire at an oil storage facility at the port of Matanzas, but that is as far as the cooperation has gone because the Cuban government has not requested other types of assistance from the United States, the State Department says.
The clarification comes after a Cuban diplomat suggested on social media the island’s government asked for help from the international community, but that it was the Biden administration’s decision to offer only technical guidance.
After domestic teams could not control a fire that started Friday night in a crude-oil tank, Cuban authorities asked for help from “friendly countries,” they said, and received foam, chemical agents, pumps and other technical equipment from Mexico and Venezuela.
