President of the United States Donald Trump stated that Mexico has stopped sending oil to Cuba after he personally asked President Claudia Sheinbaum to do so. The Republican made these statements aboard Air Force One when the press questioned him about the words of the Mexican leader, who warned that cutting the crude supply to Cuba would trigger a humanitarian crisis. "There doesn't have to be a humanitarian crisis. So Cuba will be free again. They will come to us and make a deal," Trump said. He added that Mexico stopped sending oil to Cuba after he spoke with Sheinbaum and following the U.S. tariff threats against those supplying crude to Cuba. "The president of Mexico, President Sheinbaum, has been very good. And she is not sending oil," he indicated. The Republican emphasized that Cuba is in "a very bad situation" because "they lived on the money and oil of Venezuela, but none of this is arriving" since the United States captured Nicolás Maduro on January 3. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to the island. The Cuban government described the measure as "fascist," which in practice means an energy suffocation for the island, while President Sheinbaum announced that Mexico will seek "different alternatives" to support the Cuban people. In her morning conference last Friday, she said her government will use the necessary diplomatic channels against the tariff threat. The leader appealed to the principle of national sovereignty to defend the crude shipments, which have strained relations with the United States by making Mexico the main crude supplier to the Caribbean island after the U.S. military attack on Venezuela and the U.S. maritime blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. She added that the U.S. measure threatens to unleash a humanitarian crisis on the Caribbean island and said Mexico will seek different alternatives to help the Cuban people without offering more details. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente assured that Mexico will continue to send aid to countries that need it. "We do not accept that there is no humanitarian aid when any country in the world requires it. And we are going to continue to exercise it because, in addition, this is the mechanism that allows us to keep the dialogue alive," he confirmed. Mexico suspended an oil delivery to Cuba last week amid Washington's pressures, although Sheinbaum stated it was a sovereign decision, responding to contractual issues between Pemex, the state-owned oil company, and the island. The leader explained at a press conference that only 1% of the oil production is sent to Cuba. "It is used in power plants because imagine that there is no electricity, it affects hospitals and refrigerators. I said: 'Look, we don't want you to send oil now.' I think probably they will come to us and want to make a deal. It's about avoiding a humanitarian crisis," she emphasized.
