Cuba thanks China for rice shipment amid worsening humanitarian conditions

Cuba faces a humanitarian crisis intensified by US sanctions and a de facto fuel and oil blockade. China is providing assistance, including the first shipment of 15,000 tonnes of rice that arrived in Havana’s port ahead of schedule, as part of an expected donation of about 60,000 tonnes. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed gratitude to China and to European Parliament members who condemned the pressure campaign and collective punishment. Since January, the United States increased sanctions under President Donald Trump’s hardline approach, largely blocking oil exports to Cuba. The oil blockade began after January 3, following a US military operation targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and subsequent announcements restricting transfers from Venezuela to Cuba, alongside an executive order threatening penalties for countries supplying Cuba with oil.

"Cuba has announced the first shipment in an expected donation from China of about 60,000 tonnes of rice, as the Caribbean island contends with an ongoing humanitarian crisis. In a series of social media posts on Sunday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed that the first load of 15,000 tonnes had arrived a day earlier in the port of Havana. He also expressed deep gratitude to China, as well as to members of the European Parliament who denounced the pressure campaign his government faces."

"Since January, the United States has increased its sanctions against Cuba, as part of a hardline turn under the second term of President Donald Trump. Thank you very much for the solidarity, and for the firm and unequivocal condemnation of the collective punishment to which our people are being subjected, Diaz-Canel wrote, likening Cuba's situation to genocide. While Trump has sought to check China's growing influence on Latin America, Cuba has increasingly relied on the Asian superpower for assistance."

"Already, China has donated solar panels to Cuba to help update its ageing energy grid and transition the island away from fossil fuels. Currently, Cuba relies on imports for nearly 60 percent of its oil supply, according to the International Energy Agency. But since the start of the year, the Trump administration has largely blocked the export of oil to Cuba. The de facto oil blockade began shortly after January 3, when the US launched a military operation to abduct and imprison Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro."

"Trump followed that operation with the announcement that no more oil or funds would be transferred from Venezuela to Cuba. By the end of the month, he had also issued an executive order identifying Cuba as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the US and threatening economic penalties to any country that supplies it with oil."

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