Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she is considering restarting oil shipments to Cuba, taking advantage of the Cuban government’s new free-market reforms.Such an action would provide relief to the island, which has been pushed to the brink of economic catastrophe by the oil blockade that the Trump administration has put in place to put pressure on Cuba’s communist regime. It could also set up a defining moment for relations between Sheinbaum and the United States, which has so far successfully pressured the leftist president from aiding Cuba, using the threat of tariffs.Sheinbaum on Monday said Mexico would seek to send oil to the island via commercial and privately owned firms, instead of through state-owned companies, as it has done in the past.
“The mechanism would be through private companies that have permits to transport fuel to Cuba,” Sheinbaum said, according to the Associated Press. “We hope that commercial transport can resume soon.” Cuba has been facing an energy and humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the year, as the U.S. has isolated the island as part of a push for regime change. The Trump administration has blocked oil shipments from entering the island and threatened tariffs on any country that supplies Cuba with oil. Mexico had become the largest supplier of oil to Cuba after Cuba was cut off from Venezuelan oil, following the U.S. capture of former dictator Nicolas Maduro in January. But Sheinbaum ceased shipments in response to the U.S. embargo.Only one oil shipment has reached Cuba since the U.S. imposed the blockade: a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of oil in late March.Cuba has buckled under the pressure. The Cuban government last week passed a sweeping number of free-market reforms, rolling back the state’s role in the economy. The reforms represent one of the most significant economic overhauls in years. In a televised address, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said, “We need to unleash production, to have more output and less restriction.” Cuban lawmakers passed 176 measures that would allow for more private businesses, imports, and exports without state intermediation, free hiring of personnel, authorization for private banks, and investment by Cubans abroad, PBS reported. Sheinbaum said she wants to take advantage of these new reforms and rely on Mexican business owners who are already on the island. The fuel crisis in Cuba has led to rolling blackouts, rising food prices, and public health hazards, as trash collections have become difficult with the lack of fuel. STRAIT OF HORMUZ TRAFFIC RAMPS UP, BUT HUNDREDS OF SHIPS AT STANDSTILLIn April, the United Nations said that Cuba’s humanitarian needs “remain quite acute and persistent.” It noted that as of April, the lack of fuel has paralyzed essential services such as healthcare. The UN said that health systems faced a backlog of over 96,000 pending surgeries, including 11,000 for children. Sheinbaum noted that Mexico would continue to send humanitarian aid to Cuba.
