Havana– a humanitarian ship Cuba They arrived in Havana on Tuesday carrying solar panels, bicycles, food and medicine as the island’s economic and energy crisis deepens.
About 30 people were aboard the first of three ships expected to reach Cuba severe blackoutA collapsing power grid and a US energy blockade.
“There should not be this type of economic war, there should not be this attitude of a pirate state that does not respect international law,” activist Thiago Ávila told reporters as he disembarked from the ship, named “Granma 2.0” in tribute to the ship carrying the revolutionary leader. Fidel Castro On the island in 1956.
“These ships are a drop in the ocean of need…at the same time, it is a sign of solidarity,” Ávila said.
The ship left Puerto Progreso in Merida, Mexico last week and two others are headed to Cuba.
The flotilla is part of a caravan called “Our America Convoy to Cuba,” which includes more than 650 participants from 33 countries, which arrived on the island last weekend. lots of help And he was welcomed by President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Visitors included British MP Jeremy Corbyn, Colombian senator Clara Lopez, Spanish politician Pablo Iglesias and US labor leader Chris Smalls. Popular Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap also participated.
energy restrictions The sanctions, imposed by US President Donald Trump in late January to press for changes to the island’s political model, have compounded a five-year deep economic crisis caused by previous US sanctions against the Caribbean nation and paralysis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cuba is struggling with lack of transportation, reduced working hours. flight cancellationAnd, to top it all, blackouts, including two island-wide blackouts in recent times.
Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – whose parents immigrated from Cuba in the 1950s – have said they are ready. “Take” the island.. Officials from both countries acknowledged that they are in talks, although they have not disclosed details.
Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Argelio Abad Vigo said last week that the country had gone three months without receiving supplies of diesel, fuel oil, gasoline, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas, all of which are vital to the economy and power generation. Cuba produces barely 40% of the fuel Need.
Meanwhile, a Hong Kong-flagged ship that was reportedly carrying 200,000 barrels of diesel from Russia to Cuba has stopped in Venezuela, according to MarineTraffic, a project that tracks the movement of ships around the world using publicly available data.
Leaders of many countries and social organizations have warned that Cuba may be on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.
Those sending aid include countries including Mexico, China, Brazil and Italy, and non-governmental groups from the United States.
International aid is generally distributed free of charge by the state through the network of stores that Cubans use to purchase food, except in cases where a donor specifies that the shipment must have a specific destination, such as medicine for hospitals.
