Mexico announces suspension of its oil supplies to Cuba

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government had suspended oil supplies to Cuba. However, she denied doing so under pressure from the United States. The AP news agency reported this today. According to earlier media reports, US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a naval blockade of Cuba to completely cut the island nation off from oil supplies and force a change in its regime.

Trump is urging Mexico to distance itself from the Cuban government. Earlier this month, he called on Cuba to reach a deal with the US and told it that it would no longer receive any oil or money from Venezuela after a US military operation ousted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. US officials, however, have not yet publicly asked Mexico to halt its oil supplies.

Sheinbaum’s comments on Tuesday about oil supplies to Cuba were ambiguous, AP notes. “(State oil company) Pemex makes decisions within the framework of its contractual relationship with Cuba,” Sheinbaum said, adding that “the suspension is a sovereign decision and is made when necessary.”

Cuba has long been an adversary of Washington and faces strict economic sanctions. As its energy and economic crisis deepens, it relies heavily on foreign aid and oil supplies from allies such as Mexico, Russia and, previously, Venezuela. Mexico is trying to balance its long-standing support for the Cuban government with pressure from Trump for Latin American leaders to submit to his vision of US dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that Mexico would continue to show solidarity with Havana. However, she did not specify what support Mexico would offer.

Mexico itself is facing pressure from Washington, after Trump threatened military action against Mexican drug cartels. Last week, at Washington’s insistence, Mexico handed over dozens of people suspected of belonging to drug cartels to the United States. Sheinbaum used similar wording then to describe the oil supplies to Cuba, saying the handover was a “sovereign and autonomous” decision.