The United States has pledged an additional $6 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba even as Washington continues efforts to block oil shipments to the island, worsening fuel shortages and blackouts
The United States will provide a further $6 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, the top State Department aid official said on Thursday, bringing total support to $9 million since Hurricane Melissa struck in October. Jeremy Lewin said at a news conference that assistance was being delivered through the Catholic Church, adding that Cuban authorities had not interfered with distribution so far.
Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossio, criticised the
US move, calling it contradictory in light of intensified sanctions. “Quite hypocritical to apply draconian coercive measures denying basic economic conditions to millions and then to announce soup & cans for a few,” de Cossio said on social media.
Fuel crisis deepens amid tightened US restrictions
Trump has said Cuba will no longer receive oil from
Venezuela following the US operation to capture Nicolas Maduro last month, warning that tariffs could be imposed on other suppliers, including Mexico, if fuel deliveries continue.
Earlier on Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his government would introduce temporary measures next week to address fuel shortages after blackouts affected several provinces.
Despite Washington’s restrictions on oil shipments, Lewin argued that the broader humanitarian crisis could be attributed to Cuban governance.
“It’s because the government can’t, you know, put food on the shelves … They let these government-run stores go completely empty. They’re not stocked,” he said. “And so what you’ve had is a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Cuba has long blamed the US embargo—a complex array of Cold War-era financial and trade restrictions—for its economic difficulties. The Trump administration has expanded these measures significantly in recent months.
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