Mexico Will Continue To Help Cuba In Spite Of 'Unjust' Embargo, Says Obrador

Mexico is committed to helping Cuba and its people, despite the latter being under a U.S. economic embargo, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday.

Obrador said Mexico will continue to help Cuba by various means, including providing oil. Mexico has been shipping crude oil to Cuba since the first quarter of this year. So far, the country has sent 2.8 million barrels to Cuba, which suffers from load shedding and fuel shortages.

"However, we can help the people of Cuba, we're going to do it," President Obrador said, Reuters reported. "If they tell us, 'Sell us oil, because we don't have any way of getting it,' of course we're going to do so."

Obrador said Mexico doesn't require any foreign government's permission before helping Cuba, before calling the embargo "inhumane and unjust."

The economic embargo does not allow Cuba to trade or perform any commercial activities with the U.S. It has been reinforced through various acts, including the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

Mexico isn't the only country that slammed the U.S. for its embargo. Brazilian President Lula da Silva had also expressed his thoughts on similar lines last month after meeting his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, during the G77+China Summit in Havana.

"Cuba has been an advocate of fairer global governance. And to this day it is the victim of an illegal economic embargo," President Lula da Silva said. "Brazil is against any unilateral coercive measure. We reject Cuba's inclusion on the list of states sponsoring terrorism."

Cuba was added to the list of state sponsors of terrorism during former President Donald Trump's administration. However, even after Joe Biden's administration took over in 2021, Cuba wasn't removed from the list.

The Caribbean country also blamed the U.S. trade embargo earlier this month for millions of people leaving the country.

"The economic blockade, reinforced in recent years, causes extraordinary limitations to the Cuban economy and the population's standard of living, which stimulates the migration," Cuba said.

Cubans often witness blackouts, and shortages in food, medicine, and fuel. The country's gross domestic product is less than 8% while its production of foods is 40% less, as per The Guardian, citing the Cuban government.