Chancellor Mauro Vieira is negotiating with the Cuban government for Brazil to help with fuel supplies in the face of the energy crisis on the island, which has left Cuba in the grip of a blackout in recent days. On Monday, in New York, the Brazilian minister met with the head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodriguez Parrill, to discuss the matter.

The idea is to coordinate the shipment of fuel. Vieira returns to Brazil on Wednesday and intends to coordinate the action, with the involvement of other ministries. The foreign minister also used a debate at the UN on Tuesday to call on the US government to end the sanctions against Cuba.

Chancellor Mauro Vieira is negotiating with the Cuban government for Brazil to help with fuel supplies in the face of the energy crisis on the island, which has left Cuba in the grip of a blackout in recent days. On Monday, in New York, the Brazilian minister met with the head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodriguez Parrill, to discuss the matter.

The idea is to coordinate the shipment of fuel. Vieira returns to Brazil on Wednesday and intends to coordinate the action, with the involvement of other ministries. The foreign minister also used a debate at the UN on Tuesday to call on the US government to end the sanctions against Cuba.

For him, the rejection of the economic embargo against Cuba is practically an international consensus. Vieira also pointed out that Brazil is following with “great concern the current energy emergency in Cuba, aggravated by the embargo and by the recent passage of Hurricane Oscar, which caused human losses and significant destruction in eastern Cuba”.

“I express Brazil’s full solidarity with the Cuban people and government in these difficult times, and our sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” he said. To help mitigate this situation, he indicated that the Brazilian government “has activated cooperation and assistance measures, seeking solutions for the supply of fuel and food to the Cuban population through various channels”.

Since September, Brazil has supplied 20,000 tons of rice and 3,116 tons of powdered milk, distributed to the Cuban population to help meet their basic food needs. “It is clear that the severe sanctions unjustifiably imposed on Cuba, both by the embargo and by its inclusion on the list of ‘states sponsoring terrorism’, have made this situation even worse,” he said.

“These measures, which already unfairly penalize the Cuban people, now prevent an adequate response to the humanitarian crisis generated by the hurricane,” he insisted. “For all these reasons, we urge the United States to reconsider its policy towards Cuba: lift the sanctions, remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism and promote a constructive dialogue based on mutual respect and non-interference,” he added.

“It is being seen, assistance was provided to Cuba at one point, and it is being evaluated whether fuel assistance is also necessary, as humanitarian aid, and it is help for the Cuban people,” Claudia Sheinbaum stated at a press conference.

Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, announced this Wednesday in a press conference that she is considering supplying fuel to Cuba as a measure to mitigate the series of blackouts that have affected the nation following the collapse of the National Electric System (SEN) last Friday.

“It is being considered, assistance was provided to Cuba at one moment and it is being evaluated whether fuel assistance is also necessary, as humanitarian aid, and it is aid to the Cuban people,” the leader remarked.

In 2023, Mexico sent at least 200 million dollars in oil to Cuba, according to estimates from the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, which the EFE agency accessed on September 30 of last year, although Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) denied that it was a donation.

Sheinbaum stated that the current assistance to Cuba has been limited exclusively to “technical support” from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), highlighting the ongoing funding of the Mexican government to the Cuban regime, both under the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and in the current administration.

“We are always going to support, so CFE is in contact through the Foreign Ministry with what the Cuban people require, in order to support them; it is essentially technical assistance,” Sheinbaum emphasized.

More than a third of the island will be without electricity this Wednesday, according to forecasts from the state-owned Unión Eléctrica (UNE) of Cuba, EFE reported.

The energy crisis has intensified since August, and before the total collapse on Friday, supply cuts had already reached historic levels, with maximum impact rates between 41% and 51%.

The blackouts are primarily caused by the scarcity of fuel, resulting from the lack of foreign currency for its importation, and by the constant failures in the old thermal power plants in the country, which have been in operation for more than four decades and suffer from a chronic investment deficit.

Sheinbaum, who assumed the presidency on October 1, has stated on other occasions that her country “always provides humanitarian aid” and that “Mexico has always been against the blockade, except for some presidents during the neoliberal period who decided they had a different stance.”

The Government of Mexico announced on Monday its willingness to provide technical support to Cuba, following the massive blackout that left the island without electricity since Friday.

The offer, communicated by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, includes assistance from the CFE, which replaces the Mexican Electricians’ Union “Luz y Fuerza del Centro,” an old ally of the Cuban regime.