Cuba thanks China for sending rice as population worsens | Government Affairs

Cuba has announced first delivery in an expected supply from China of around 60,000 tonnes of rice, as the Caribbean island grapples with an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

In a series of social media posts on Sunday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel it has been confirmed that the first shipment of 15,000 tons arrived the day before at the port of Havana.

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He also expressed “deep gratitude” to China, and to members of the European Parliament who criticized his government’s pressure campaign.

Since January, the United States has increased its sanctions against Cuba, as part of a tough reform under the second term of President Donald Trump.

“Thank you very much for this agreement, and for the strong and unequivocal opposition to the punishment our people are being subjected to,” Diaz-Canel said, comparing the situation in Cuba to “genocide”.

While Trump wants to see China expand in Latin America, Cuba has relied heavily on Asian countries for support.

China has already provided solar panels to Cuba to help replace its aging grid and transition the island off of oil. Currently, Cuba relies on oil extraction for about 60 percent of its oil, according to the International Energy Agency.

But since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration has severely restricted oil exports to Cuba.

The de facto oil embargo began shortly after January 3, when the US launched a military operation to capture and arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump followed up on the project by announcing that no more oil or money would be diverted from Venezuela to Cuba.

At the end of the month, he issued an executive order declaring Cuba a “foreign and extraordinary threat” to the US and threatening economic sanctions against any country that supplies it with oil.

Since then, only one Russian plane has been allowed to reach the island. Earlier this month, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced that the island has run out of oil.

Although Cuba is not known for blackouts, the latest crisis has caused power outages across the island and brought public services – including transport and healthcare – to a standstill in many areas.

But Mr Trump will continue to impose sanctions on the island’s communist government, in an attempt to force regime change.

Media reports indicate that they want Diaz-Canel to step down and may be open to events like the one in Venezuela, where the Maduro government has been effectively abandoned, even if Maduro himself has been replaced.

Trump has repeatedly said he would consider it military response When Cuba fails to comply with its demands, even its administration sends it mixed messages about possible intervention on the island.

“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something, and it looks like I’m the one to do it,” Trump said last week from the Oval Office.

Talks between the two countries are expected to be difficult after Trump’s administration revealed the murder of former Cuban leader Raul Castro for the downing of two Cuban-piloted planes in 1996.

Since the 1960s, Cuba has been barred from trade with the US, which has weakened its economy.

But US officials say that the Cuban government is managing the economy and repressing its people, especially political opponents.

At the beginning of this month, the Secretary of State of America Marco Rubio revealed that the Trump administration will provide $ 100m in aid to the people of Cuba, if they achieve “necessary reforms”.

In a letter on Sunday, Diaz-Canel sought to show defiance in the face of Trump’s “very aggressive” campaign.

“The ‘maximum pressure’ strategy – which some in the US are loudly trumpeting – is part of a strategy aimed at confirming the propaganda of an impending collapse, and paving the way for military intervention,” he said. he wrote.

Diaz-Canel added that Cuba will continue to strengthen its relationship with the US’s economic and political rival, China.

He said: “The friendship and bond that we love that binds us together is stronger in these difficult times.