Mexico City, Feb 1 (Prensa Latina) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced today the shipment this week of humanitarian aid to Cuba in the form of food and other products and reaffirmed that her nation is working through diplomatic channels to supply fuel to the island.
“We are exploring all diplomatic avenues to send fuel to the Cuban people, because this is not a matter for governments, but rather a matter of support to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Cuba, and in the meantime, we will send food and other aid,” the president stated.
From Guaymas, in the northern state of Sonora, the head of the Executive Branch explained that the shipment will be prepared by the Secretariat of the Navy.
In a context marked by Washington’s threat to impose tariffs on countries that send crude oil to Cuba, Sheinbaum also contradicted her American counterpart, Donald Trump, who said yesterday that he asked the dignitary to stop sending oil to the Caribbean country and she agreed.
“The issue (of sending oil to Cuba) has not been addressed in any of the conversations. The only time the topic was addressed was in the conversation that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Juan Ramón de la Fuente) had with the (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” she clarified.
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday declaring a supposed national emergency and establishing a process to impose tariffs on the assets of nations that send crude oil to Cuba.
This decree, another turn of the screw in the blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years, is part of Washington’s current maximum pressure policy against the island, and attempts to justify it with the interests of US national security and foreign policy.
During the plenary meeting of the deputies of the ruling Morena party, held yesterday, Foreign Minister De la Fuente considered it unacceptable that there is no humanitarian aid when it is required and reaffirmed his country’s decision to provide it to the nation that needs it.
Sheinbaum had stated on Friday that Mexico would look for ways to support Cuba and stressed the importance of avoiding a humanitarian crisis in the largest of the Antilles after the controversial measures announced by the United States.
Activists, parliamentarians, and representatives of political parties in this Latin American country have spoken out in recent days in support of the Caribbean nation in the face of the new US measure, described by many as unfair, cruel, and anachronistic.
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