Two Mexican ships docked on Thursday (12) at Havana’s port with more than 800 tons of humanitarian aid for Cuba, mired in a deep economic crisis aggravated by Washington’s pressures, while Russia and Chile also pledged to send assistance to the Caribbean country.
The arrival of the Papaloapan and Isla Holbox ships, sent by the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, comes as Mexico negotiates a possible delivery of oil to the island without being sanctioned by the United States, which threatened to impose tariffs on the country that supplies the input.
According to the Mexican government, the ships carried 814 tons of liquid and powdered milk, meats, biscuits, beans, rice and personal hygiene items. In Mexico, there are still “more than 1,500 tons of powdered milk and beans awaiting shipment” to the island, according to Mexican authorities.
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Sheinbaum had previously stated that the humanitarian aid would be sent while diplomatic maneuvers to resume oil supplies were underway. She says that Mexico informed the United States that it seeks to promote peaceful dialogue and ensure that Cuba “can receive oil and its derivatives for its daily operations.”
Before Donald Trump’s executive order, the state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) had already suspended shipments of crude oil to Cuba in January, though the reasons behind the decision were not clarified.
“Mexico has always been a country in solidarity with Cuba,” said to AFP by 52-year-old Cuban Marila García.
The woman, strolling along Havana’s Malecón, recalled that Mexico “was the only country” that maintained relations when Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962.
In turn, fisherman Eliécer Rodríguez, 34, highlighted that, in the face of Washington’s pressures, “the only” country “that is responding at the moment is Mexico.” “It has always been faithful,” he noted.
Under a U.S. embargo since 1962, Havana accuses Trump of wanting to “suffocate” the island’s economy, where, since Monday (9), a package of emergency measures has come into effect, such as gasoline rationing, a four-day workweek in the public administration, teleworking and distance university classes.
The fuel shortage has also led to the “reduction of on-site staff in hospitals and polyclinics,” as well as “surgical activity,” explained on Monday the Health Minister, José Ángel Portal.
Cuban aviation authorities warned airlines earlier this week that there is not enough fuel to refuel aircraft on the island. On Monday, Air Canada announced the suspension of flights to Cuba, while other airlines reported delays and layovers in the Dominican Republic before continuing to Havana. The fuel cuts are expected to be another blow to Cuba’s once-thriving tourism economy.
“Sometimes you think things will get better, but that’s not how it is,” said Javier González, a Cuban who sat on Havana’s famous malecón seawall to watch the arrival of the Mexican ships. “We cannot keep going like this because it’s very difficult. We will have to wait and see.”
Assistance from Chile and Russia
In Chile, the outgoing government of Gabriel Boric confirmed on Thursday (12) that it plans to send humanitarian aid to Cuba, “taking into account the dramatic situation the country is living” and “beyond the political characteristics that its regime may have.”
“It is monetary aid, which really no one could contest,” Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren said to the press, without specifying the amount.
Meanwhile, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on Thursday that Russia could supply oil to Cuba, its strategic ally in the Caribbean, as part of its “humanitarian” assistance.
“From what we know, Russia is expected to soon provide oil and oil products to Cuba as humanitarian aid,” said the Moscow Ministry of Economic Development, cited by the newspaper.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov denounced the United States’ “suffocating measures” against the island, which is facing a “truly critical” situation.
Cuba has been mired for six years in a severe economic crisis, with high inflation, prolonged blackouts and shortages of food and medicines, due to the combined effects of tightened American sanctions, the low productivity of its centralized economy and the collapse of tourism.
This situation was worsened by the abrupt suspension of oil supplies from Venezuela, its main fuel supplier in the last 25 years, after Nicolás Maduro’s removal in a U.S. military intervention on January 3.
In a statement released in Geneva, a group of UN human rights special rapporteurs condemned the executive order by which Trump threatens to impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to the island, arguing that Havana represents an “exceptional threat” to the United States.
“Interfering with fuel imports could trigger a severe humanitarian crisis, with ripple effects on essential services,” warned the experts who work for the United Nations, although they do not speak on behalf of the organization.
