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Mexico\u2019s President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that her country will ship humanitarian aid to Cuba, as she continues to negotiate with United States President Donald Trump to relax the oil blockade<\/a> he has imposed on the island nation.<\/p>\n Speaking on Friday from Michoacan, Sheinbaum added that her government would be delivering the aid imminently.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cWe are planning to send this aid, if not this weekend, then on Monday at the latest,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is mainly food and some other supplies that they have requested.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that she would also continue \u201cdiplomatic efforts\u201d with the US to restore Cuba\u2019s access to oil, a necessary fuel to power the country\u2019s electrical grid.<\/p>\n But Sheinbaum acknowledged that the US has threatened to issue tariffs<\/a> against any country that seeks to circumvent its energy blockade.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we don\u2019t want sanctions against Mexico,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n Her remarks come after Trump issued an executive order last week declaring that Cuba\u2019s communist government constituted an \u201cunusual and extraordinary threat\u201d to the US, thereby requiring a national emergency declaration.<\/p>\n Trump cited reports of human rights violations on the island, the mass exodus of migrants and asylum seekers from Cuba, and the country\u2019s ties to Russia, China and Iran.<\/p>\n As part of Trump\u2019s declaration, his administration pledged to impose tariffs on any country that \u201cprovides any oil to Cuba\u201d, whether directly or indirectly.<\/p>\n Aftermath of Maduro\u2019s abduction<\/p>\n Trump has increased his pressure campaign against Cuba since January 3, when the US abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n Cuba and Venezuela have long been close regional allies. But following Maduro\u2019s ouster, the US has exerted pressure on the government of interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez.<\/p>\n Venezuela has since agreed to comply with a US demand to end its supply of oil and funds to Cuba.<\/p>\n \u201cCuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> on January 11.<\/p>\n \u201cTHERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA \u2013 ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuba has seen antigovernment protests erupt in recent years as the island suffers from chronic power outages. Trump has previously said the country appears \u201cready to fall<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mexico\u2019s oil and petroleum sales to Cuba totaled $496m in 2025. The state-owned oil company Pemex has said the sales account for less than 1 percent of its production.<\/p>\n It has framed the shipments as purely humanitarian, with Cuba having suffered from rampant poverty and energy shortages amid a decades-long US embargo.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters<\/a> that the UN chief was \u201cextremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba\u201d.<\/p>\n The spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, added that the situation in Cuba would \u201cworsen, if not collapse, if its oil needs go unmet\u201d.<\/p>\n Humanitarian aid<\/p>\n Still, critics have pointed out<\/a> that a humanitarian crisis in Cuba could result in an influx of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing to the US, undermining Trump\u2019s goal of reducing migration.<\/p>\n Cuba lies only 145 kilometres (90 miles) from the southern tip of the United States.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the US State Department announced it would provide an extra $6m in humanitarian aid to Cuba, adding to $3m in previously announced support.<\/p>\n The aid was set to be delivered by the Catholic Church, bypassing Cuba\u2019s government.<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio decried the move as duplicitous.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite hypocritical to apply draconian coercive measures denying basic economic conditions to millions and then to announce soup & cans for a few,\u201d de Cossio said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Marco Rubio \u2014 the child of Cuban immigrants \u2014 has long been a proponent of overthrowing the country\u2019s government and has championed Washington\u2019s \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n