3 Mexican Ships Sail For Cuba With Fuel, Food And Medical Supplies

Three Mexican ships carrying food, fuel and medical supplies were sailed to Cuba this week, in what experts said was Mexico’s biggest aid run for Cuba in almost three decades, Maria Verza reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Mexico sent aid to Cuba on the “Libertador” and “Papaloapan” ships of the Secretary of the Navy, with medical supplies to combat COVID-19

The first ship left late Monday loaded with 100,000 barrels of diesel fuel that the Mexican government said would be used to provide power for Cuban hospitals.

A second ship operated by the Mexican navy left Tuesday, and the third ship left Wednesday. The Foreign Relations Department said those two ships are carrying oxygen tanks, needles and syringes as well as basic food items like powdered milk, cooking oil and beans.

The department described the shipments as “humanitarian assistance” to help Cuba weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Rafael Elias Rojas, a Cuban historian and professor at the College of Mexico, said that “this is a new phenomenon,” comparable only to Cuba’s “special period” in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union cut off the island’s economic subsidies.

“There have been minor instances of aid during hurricane seasons, but the last big aid efforts of this scale or larger, were during the administration of (former Mexican president) Carlos Salinas de Gortari, when exchanges with Cuba increased significantly and when, as now, there was a deep economic crisis on the island,” Rojas said.

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