A DC-6 loaded with relief supplies heads for Cuba

In this story:

• 'A historic step'
• Antibiotics, baby formula, syringes
• No protesters
• Related sites and stories

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- A plane carrying $800,000 worth of medical supplies from the United States to Cuba Thursday was the first humanitarian flight between the countries in nearly two years.

"This is a historic step," said Bishop Thomas Wenski, head of the Archdiocese of Miami's Catholic Charities wing. "People in Cuba need medicine and medical supplies. Although this is perhaps a drop in the bucket, it is a symbolic one and shows our solidarity with the Cuban church."

The shipment was the first humanitarian aid flown directly to the Communist-run island since the Clinton administration eased restrictions in March. The United States has enforced an embargo on Cuba for the past 36 years.

Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman explains where the aid supplies will go

After Pope John Paul II visited Cuba last January, President Clinton agreed to allow direct flights from the United States to Cuba, along with limited cash remittances to Cubans. He also agreed to expedite licenses for U.S. pharmaceutical companies that want to sell medicines to Cuba.

The United States suspended direct flights between Miami and Havana in February 1996, after Cuban air force jets shot down two U.S.-based "Brothers to the Rescue" planes in the Florida Straits, killing four people.

The Catholic Charities flight was given the green light by the U.S. government in May, but it was delayed for weeks while U.S. and Cuban authorities negotiated the details.

Needy Cubans are to receive boxes of baby food, syringes and other supplies

The chartered DC-6 aircraft was loaded with 15 pallets of food and medical supplies, including antibiotics, syringes and surgical masks. The aid is to be delivered directly to the Cuban Catholic Church's charity arm, Caritas Cuba, for delivery to a leper hospital and other facilities.

"This is a church-to-church effort. This does not represent U.S. government aid to Cuba," Wenski said. "The pope asked that the world open itself to Cuba and that Cuba open itself to the world. This is an important gesture of solidarity."

Tom Garofalo, head of Catholic Relief Services' Cuba department in the United States, said he did not fear that the Cuban government would siphon off the aid. He said Caritas had a good track record of delivering aid where it is needed.

"We all know Cuba is going through a difficult time. It (the aid) will go to the people who need it most -- old people, pregnant women, the chronically ill," Garofalo said.

He also said CRS was looking at the possibility of sending doctors to Cuba. "We don't have a fixed date, but that's what we'd like to do."

Officials said direct flights allowed aid to be sent to the people of Cuba more quickly and cheaply than if the flights were routed through third countries like the Bahamas, as they have been in the past. They hoped a second flight could be arranged soon.

Smoke rises from the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue planes shot down by the Cuban air force in the Florida Straits

The last time aid was sent directly to Cuba was October 1996, when, as an exception to the rules enacted after the two planes were shot down, two planeloads of relief supplies were dispatched after Hurricane Lili struck the island.

Thursday's flight left from Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami, where a vocal sector of the Cuban exile community opposes ties to the island while President Fidel Castro remains in power.

A half-dozen mounted Fort Lauderdale police officers watched the flight take off from a viewing area at the perimeter of the airport, but there were no protesters.

Travel to Cuba and sending aid and money has always been controversial within the Cuban-American community. Families are torn between helping relatives and denying dollars to Castro's government. Every year, Cuban Americans have illegally sent hundreds of millions of dollars to relatives. Thousands have traveled in violation of U.S. law.

Cuban-Americans may legally travel to Cuba once a year for an emergency family visit. Direct passenger flights are expected to begin later this month from Miami.

Reuters contributed to this report.