Díaz-Canel requested in a letter to López Obrador humanitarian aid for Cuba

One of the ships with food and medical supplies that Mexico sends to Cuba, in the Port of Veracruz. VICTOR YANEZ / AFP

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador obtained a first-hand account of the food and drug crisis in Cuba.

This Tuesday the president said in his morning conference that he received a letter from the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, relating the situation on the island.

"I received a letter from him [De Díaz-Canel], explaining the difficult situation due to the blockade," he commented.

López Obrador assures that the shortage is found, mainly, in hospitals with the distribution of oxygen to care for patients suffering from Covid-19 and the supply of electricity.

More information

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

• López Obrador asks Biden to end the blockade of Cuba: "We must separate the political from the humanitarian"

Mexico sent the first Navy ship on Tuesday with a shipment of food and medical supplies, including oxygen tanks. "They were affected by an oxygen production plant to treat patients who require it," said the Mexican president when explaining the contents of the vessels. Shipments from Mexico include syringes, masks, oxygen tanks, as well as powdered milk, beans, wheat flour, cans of tuna and edible oil. A second ship will leave the Port of Veracruz on Wednesday, as detailed by the president.

López Obrador has acknowledged that he will also send fuel to Havana. "They don't have electricity for the hospitals because they don't have fuel," he said. On Monday, a ship from the state oil company Pemex left the port of Coatzacoalcos with 200,000 barrels of fuel heading for the island. The company has not yet confirmed whether the cargo will be unloaded in Cuba. The Foreign Ministry had previously confirmed that Mexico would send diesel as part of humanitarian aid.

Asked about possible reprisals that the United States can impose on Mexico for sending the ships, the president has argued that it is a unilateral decision. "We are an independent, free, sovereign country," he said. “I am sure that the United States Government will give a positive response, because such a policy is not appropriate. We may have differences, but a people cannot be condemned to hunger and disease ”.

In recent weeks, López Obrador has defended the Cuban regime and has condemned the economic blockade that the United States maintains against Cuba. He has insisted on respecting the vote on June 23 at the UN, in which 184 countries rejected the blockade, and has asked those countries to join the sending of humanitarian aid. So far, only Russia has sent food and medicine to the island. "There is a delicate situation in Cuba, they are suffering from a blockade, something that I consider inhumane because it is an extreme measure, it is like a medieval action, showing a great backwardness in foreign policy," said the Mexican. Díaz-Canel thanked López Obrador for his support on his Twitter account.

The President @lopezobrador_ has dedicated us, once again, words of solidarity in his #mañanera.

We especially appreciate your proposal that the world turn its vote against #Bloqueo into fact.

Thank you # Mexico pic.twitter.com/HmH6uzgFlB

- Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) July 26, 2021

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