Mexico will send two ships to Cuba with food and health aid

Health sector workers open this Friday in Havana a container with a humanitarian donation from non-governmental organizations, from the United States.Ernesto Mastrascusa / EFE

In the middle of the political crisis unleashed by the protests against the Cuban regime, the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported this Friday that it will send health and food aid to Cuba, in what it has defined as a diplomatic policy of "international solidarity" to help Latin American countries to face the crisis unleashed by the covid-19 pandemic.

The Executive has informed through a statement that on Sunday two ships of the Secretariat of the Navy will sail from the port of Veracruz, located in the Gulf of Mexico, with a cargo that includes medical equipment such as face masks, syringes and oxygen tanks.

In addition, powdered milk, beans, wheat flour, cans of tuna, edible oil and diesel gasoline will be sent to the island.

CUBA

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The announcement comes a day after the Joe Biden Administration increased pressure against the Cuban regime and announced through the Treasury Department sanctions against the Minister of Defense, Álvaro López Miera, and the National Special Brigade (BEN), a a unit known as

, for the repression exercised during the demonstrations that on July 11 threw thousands of citizens into the streets. Biden has threatened more actions against the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, after affirming on Thursday that "this is only the beginning, the United States will continue to sanction the individuals responsible for the oppression of the Cuban people."

López Obrador has tried to maintain a neutral position on this recent crisis in Cuba, relying on the policy of non-intervention in internal affairs of other countries, although he has expressed concern about the economic and humanitarian situation of the island due to the economic embargo imposed by States United. On July 12, the president offered humanitarian aid to the Cuban government "without any political tendency or bias." López Obrador expressed his “solidarity with the Cuban people” and said that “a way out [of the crisis] must be sought through dialogue, without the use of force, without confrontation, without violence. And it has to be the Cubans who decide, because Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign country ”.

The president also reported that he would ask Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to build what he defined as a communication bridge with the island's government.

The Morenista leader also spoke in favor of lifting the US embargo.

"The truth is that if you wanted to help Cuba, the first thing you should do is suspend the blockade, as most of the countries in the world are requesting," said López Obrador.

“That would be a truly humanitarian gesture.

No country in the world should be surrounded, blocked, that is the most contrary that there can be to human rights.

You cannot create a fence or isolate an entire town, for political reasons and for whatever reason.

Nobody has the right to make those decisions that affect the people, ”he added.

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