Mexico's navy locates two missing sailboats carrying aid to Cuba, crew safe


FILE PHOTO: The sailboats Friendship and Tigger Moth, carrying humanitarian aid for Cuba and crewed by activists taking part in the Nuestra America Convoy flotilla, depart Isla Mujeres, in Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, March 21, 2026. REUTERS/Paola Chiomante/File Photo

HAVANA, March ⁠28 (Reuters) - Two sailboats that went missing while carrying humanitarian ⁠aid from Mexico to Cuba have been located by ‌the Mexican Navy and their crews are safe, a spokesman for the Nuestra America Convoy said on Saturday.

The two boats are part of the convoy, ​a broader grassroots aid effort seeking to ⁠deliver food, medicine, baby ⁠formula and other supplies to the Caribbean's largest island, amid a ⁠U.S. ‌blockade on shipments of oil and other supplies that has worsened power outages and led the state ⁠to ration services.

"The vessels are continuing their journey ​to Havana," a ‌spokesman told Reuters. "The Convoy remains on track to complete its ⁠mission — delivering ​urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Cuban people."

The sailboats went missing after departing from Mexico's Isla Mujeres last Saturday and had been ⁠expected to arrive in Cuba's capital, Havana, ​between March 24 and 25.

The spokesman did not immediately say why the boats had disappeared.

The U.S. Coast Guard initially told French ⁠press agency AFP on Friday that the boats had been found but later recanted its statement, saying a search was still underway, prompting confusion.

The Nuestra America - Our America in Spanish - coalition ​includes nearly 300 organizations from more than ⁠30 countries, among them non-governmental groups, unions, political parties and lawmakers.

The ​group has already delivered approximately 20 ‌tons of aid by air and ​by sea to Cuba, including food, medicine, solar panels and bicycles.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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