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Global Affairs Canada has announced $8 million in funding for Cuba as the country grapples with U.S. President Donald Trump’s oil embargo.
“This funding is part of an international assistance program to strengthen local food security and nutrition,” according to a news statement from Global Affairs Canada (GAC).Â
GAC says the funding is meant “to scale up food and nutrition for vulnerable Cubans.”
The funding — to be released immediately — will be delivered through partnerships with the World Food Program and the United Nations Children’s Fund, the statement said.
WATCH | Canada to provide $8M in aid:
Canada to provide $8 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba: Anand, Sarai
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Liberal MP Randeep Sarai, the secretary of state for international development, announced that Canada would deliver $8 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, where people are facing blackouts and shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
It comes after Cuba lost its main fuel source late last month, when the Trump administration took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and cut off shipments, while also threatening tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island nation.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she has not discussed “Canadian aid intentions” with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or the United States.
“This is Canadian foreign policy,” she said. “We will always be looking to do more when humanitarian situations call for it.”
Testifying before the House foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, Cuban Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said the objective of the U.S. oil blockade is “to create a humanitarian crisis and try to force regime change through it.”
“Without energy, every aspect of life in a country is affected — food distribution, public health, transportation, education,” he said.
Cuba’s Ministry of Energy has said it is making do partly with its own domestic oil production, which provides about 40 per cent of the oil it uses.
“The humanitarian situation in Cuba is becoming quite grave and quite serious,” secretary of state for international development Randeep Sarai said.
He added that this accelerated funding program aims to give Cubans a “bigger boost.”