MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that her administration is looking for alternatives to assist Cuba as she warned of a grave humanitarian crisis after the US tightened sanctions on countries that supply oil to the Caribbean island.

Mexico represents a large bulk of oil shipments to Cuba, especially after attacks on Venezuela by US forces that captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

“The application of tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba could trigger a far-reaching humanitarian crisis, directly affecting hospitals, food supplies, and other basic services for the Cuban people. This is a situation that must be avoided through respect for international law and dialogue between the parties,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) supplied approximately 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day last year to Cuba, according to Bloomberg

The most recent shipment in January totaled 86,000 barrels, although Sheinbaum said oil exports amount to 1% of national oil production.

She said her administration is currently analyzing the scope of US President Donald Trump’s decree while looking for options to assist Cuba that will not place the Mexican economy in the crosshairs of US sanctions.

“So, I instructed the foreign minister to discuss this with the United States government, or for them to send the oil themselves. This is an issue of support for the Cuban people,” she said.

The Trump administration declared a national emergency Thursday, claiming Cuba harbors “hostile actors, terrorism, and regional instability that endanger American security.”

The White House asserted that Cuba hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility focused on stealing sensitive national security information from the US and harbors what it labeled as transnational terror groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

In this framework, the US issued a decree imposing a levy on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the tightened grip on his country’s economy and heightened US sanctions through a series of posts on American social media platform X.

“President Trump intends to suffocate the Cuban economy by imposing tariffs on countries that sovereignly trade oil with Cuba,” he said. “This new measure exposes the fascist, criminal, and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal ends.”