Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday that her country intends to resume oil shipments to Cuba in the near future, a development that could offer significant relief to the island nation as its ongoing crises worsen due to a severe shortage of petroleum.
Sheinbaum said her administration plans to route the oil through commercial and privately owned companies, departing from the previous approach of using state-owned enterprises to handle such shipments.
Mexico had stepped up as a critical fuel supplier to Cuba after the United States took action against Venezuela in early January, cutting off vital oil shipments to the island. Those shipments had already been scaled back before being halted entirely after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs against any nation that supplies or sells oil to Cuba.
In the wake of the disruption involving Venezuela, only a single oil delivery has made it to Cuba — a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of oil, a supply that lasted just one month.
The fuel shortage has intensified an already serious energy crisis on the island. Cuba produces only 40% of the petroleum it requires, and the shortfall has triggered widespread power outages, shortened work schedules, water supply problems, canceled surgeries, and food spoilage.
Sheinbaum said she hopes to take advantage of a set of free-market reforms recently approved by the Cuban government, working through Mexican business owners who are already operating on the island.
“The mechanism would be through private companies that have permits to transport fuel to Cuba,” she said, though she offered no additional specifics. “We hope that commercial transport can resume soon,” she added, without giving a timeline for when that might occur.
The Mexican president also confirmed that her country would continue providing humanitarian assistance to Cuba alongside any resumed fuel deliveries.
