Mexico will continue to assist Cuba with humanitarian aid while exploring ways to resume oil shipments to the island nation, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday during a news conference.
Sheinbaum confirmed that Mexican oil shipments to Cuba are currently at a standstill after US President Donald Trump decreed that all countries supplying oil to the Caribbean nation would be subject to tariffs. She added that her administration is preparing a second shipment of humanitarian aid while seeking to broker an agreement with the US that would allow Mexico to resume oil exports to the country.
“It is very unjust to impose sanctions on countries that sell oil to Cuba. It is very unjust and not right, because sanctions that affect the people are never right. One may agree or disagree with Cuba’s system of government, but the people should never be affected,” she said during the press conference.
On Sunday, Mexico delivered 814 tons of food and supplies to Cuba. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said the Mexican Navy dispatched two ships carrying milk, crackers, beans, rice, canned tuna, sardines, cooking oil and personal hygiene items following the disruption of Mexico’s longstanding oil supply due to Trump’s decree.
During her briefing, Sheinbaum made an appeal to the US to allow the resumption of oil shipments to Cuba while reiterating her opposition to and criticism of the stranglehold her northern neighbor has imposed on the country.
“We will continue supporting Cuba and will keep taking all the necessary diplomatic actions to restore oil shipments because you cannot strangle a people in this way. It is deeply unjust, very unjust,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico is preparing a second shipment with more than 1,500 tons of powdered milk and beans to Cuba in the coming days as negotiations continue with the US in an effort to avoid tariffs on Mexico and resume oil deliveries to the island nation.
By Jorge Antonio Rocha in Mexico City
Anadolu Agency
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