WorldCity Business Magazine

front lines

by WC

Nicaragua joins relief network

AmericasRelief Team, an alliance of South Florida businesses willing to deliver humanitarian aid during emergencies in Central America and the Caribbean, has wooed Nicaragua to its cause.

Nicaragua’s Consul General Jos Velasquez in Miami and Gernimo Giusto-Robelo, the head of Nicaraguan emergency response agency SE-SINAPRED, met with AmericasRelief officials in December in a bid to eliminate obstacles that have hampered past assistance. The Central American officials said they would push to persuade neighboring nations to also embrace the effort.

That push is expected to come at the next emergency summit for Caribbean Basin countries to be held early this year.

“The goal of this initiative is for all the countries in the Caribbean Basin to enter into a cooperation agreement to facilitate effective logistics integration and management of relief aid,” said Teo Babun, executive director of AmericasRelief Team.

AmericasRelief is a network of Florida shipping, transportation, logistics and charitable organizations that have volunteered to deliver emergency shipments following a hurricane, earthquake or other natural or manmade disaster. The goal of the nonprofit entity is to cut red tape and to set up uniform delivery systems.

The team include top executives from Carnival Corp., FedEx Latin America, Lucent Technologies, Pharmed Group, Caribbean Central America Action, Florida Stevedoring, G.O.A.L., Miami-Dade Aviation Department, POMTOC, Seaboard Marine, Gordon, Reyes & Co. and Enterprise Florida. [Editors note: WorldCity Media is also a member.]