Two Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid have entered the port of Havana, the Cuban capital, as the United States continues efforts to cut off external fuel supplies from the island.
On Thursday, pedestrians on Havana’s seawall watched as ships, including the Papaloapan, unloaded white pallets onto shore.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the issue at a morning press conference and promised further assistance was on the way.
“We’re sending different forms of aid, different forms of assistance,” Sheinbaum said. “The ship is arriving today. Once the ship returns, we will send more assistance of a different kind.”
She also said her country’s role was to “open the door to developing dialogue” between Cuba and the United States, but maintained that preserving Cuba’s sovereignty was number one among her priorities.
pressure campaign
Since January, the administration of US President Donald Trump has sought to cut off the oil supplies that power Cuba’s energy grid and other critical infrastructure.
The campaign is part of a long series of sanctions imposed by the United States on the Caribbean island nation dating back to the Cold War era.
But the latest efforts under the Trump administration have U.N. experts warning that Cuba’s humanitarian “collapse” is imminent as oil supplies dwindle.
The oil embargo began on January 3, when President Trump authorized a U.S. military operation to attack Venezuela and abduct then-leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Syria Flores.
Venezuela has long been a close ally of Cuba and is, of course, a major oil supplier. However, following President Maduro’s abduction, President Trump announced that he would suspend much of the economic exchange between the two countries.
“Cuba has lived off tons of oil and money from Venezuela for years. In return, Cuba provided ‘security services’ to Venezuela’s past two dictators, but nothing more,” President Trump wrote on his Truth social account on January 11.
“There is no more oil or money going to Cuba!”
He also predicted that Cuba’s communist government would collapse following Maduro’s removal.
“Cuba is ready to collapse,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on January 4. “Cubans have no income right now. They get all their income from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil. They don’t receive any part of it.”
President Trump has repeatedly called on Cuba to “make a deal” to resolve the impasse, but it is unclear what a deal would include.
Tariff threat
But after weeks passed without a negotiated solution, the Trump administration upped the ante. On January 29, the United States declared the situation in Cuba a “national emergency.”
It accused the Havana government of posing an “extraordinary threat” and supporting “hostile forces, terrorism, and regional instability that endanger the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The declaration of a state of emergency was accompanied by an announcement that the United States would impose tariffs on countries that directly or indirectly supply oil to Cuba.
This put Mexico on the defensive. Mexico, along with Venezuela, was one of Cuba’s regional trading partners that supplied oil.
However, it is also the United States’ largest trading partner. As much as 80 percent of Mexico’s exports go to its northern neighbor, and the two countries are now part of a regional free trade agreement.
Nevertheless, Sheinbaum criticized President Trump’s oil blockade against Cuba, calling the situation “unfair.”
Cuba has long suffered from economic instability, which the country’s government blames on the US sanctions regime. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the island faced shortages of basic supplies, including fuel, and the island experienced the largest exodus of residents in recent history.
Still, new Trump-era restrictions on fuel exports to Cuba have pushed the country to the brink of a new humanitarian crisis.
In early February, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the situation on the island had become dire. Power outages have already become a chronic problem.
“I can say that the Secretary-General is very concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba. If oil needs are not met, the humanitarian situation in Cuba will worsen, if not collapse,” Dujarric said.
The United States also announced this month that it would provide $6 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, but said the money would not be disbursed through the Cuban government, but instead through the Catholic Church.
As two Mexican ships unloaded humanitarian supplies on Thursday, local residents told International News Agency they were grateful for the show of support.
Ediberto Rodríguez, 65, a Havana resident, told Reuters the delivery was an “unforgettable act” from the allies.
“Mexico has not abandoned us,” he said. “Despite pressure from global superpowers, [the United States]they were not afraid.
