Mexico’s Sheinbaum pledges to send humanitarian aid to Cuba

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Sunday she plans to send humanitarian aid to Cuba this week, including food and other humanitarian aid.

Sheinbaum’s comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked the Mexican leader to suspend oil shipments to the Caribbean island.

Sheinbaum said at a public event in the northern state of Sonora that she did not discuss Cuban affairs in a phone conversation with Trump on Thursday. She added that her government seeks to “ diplomatically solve everything related to the oil shipments (to Cuba) for humanitarian reasons.”

Earlier, Trump told reporters that he told the Mexican president not to send oil to Cuba.

Following the U.S. military operation carried out in early January to remove Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, the South American nation suspended oil shipments to Cuba, which had been declining in recent years.

Mexico then became the main supplier of crude oil and refined products to Havana.

Mexican oil has long acted as a key lifeline for Cuba. In its most recent report, Pemex said it shipped nearly 20,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba from January through Sept. 30, 2025.

In September, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mexico City. Afterward, Jorge Piñon, an expert at the University of Texas Energy Institute who tracks shipments using satellite technology, said the figure had fallen to about 7,000 barrels.

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