As U.S. squeezes Cuba, Canada readies aid package

Heather Wright has more on Canada planning to send aid to Cuba amid the U.S. oil blockade, which has caused an energy crisis in the country.

Cuba is running on fumes, with some predicting the island nation could run out of oil in as little as 30 days as the U.S. oil blockade worsens an already dire humanitarian situation.

“We go through sometimes 21 hours without electricity,” says Bisma Khan, a Canadian currently in Nuevitas, Cuba. Khan is the founder of non-profit organization CompassionAid Canada which brings medical supplies to the island.

“There’s definitely challenges with transport, the medical system,” she said. “The hospitals, clinics, the old age homes, they need a lot of supplies.”

The United Nations has warned without energy, a humanitarian crisis could soon unfold.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that Canada plans to send aid to Cuba, though it’s not yet clear what might be included.

“We are preparing a plan to assist. We are not prepared at this point to provide any details of the announcement,” Anand said.

Tuesday, Cuba’s ambassador to Canada testified in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the situation in Cuba and what is most urgently needed.

“Without energy, every aspect of life in our country is affected,” Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said. “Food distribution, public health, transportation and education depend on fuel.”

“The objective of this oil blockade is clear – to create a humanitarian crisis and try to force a regime change through it.”

Diaz was grilled by committee members about his government’s human rights record, remaining defiant to U.S. efforts to topple the government.

“It’s not new. It’s something they’ve been trying to do for many years now.” Diaz said. He said he believes the U.S. aims to make the population of Cuba so desperate that they would try to overthrow the government.

Cuba has been under a U.S.-led embargo for nearly 70 years, but the situation has worsened since January when the United States attacked Venezuela and arrested its president. Since then, all oil shipments from Venezuela, Cuba’s main supplier, have been halted. Mexico also suspended shipments after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba.

“Cuba has been…close to the brink of collapse for many, many years,” says Mark Manger, professor of political economy and global affairs at the University of Toronto. “The horrible situation is fully to blame on the Cuban regime but that doesn’t mean that sanctions are an effective policy to topple it. Sanctions do not hurt the people they’re supposed to hurt. They hit ordinary people.”

In sending aid to Cuba, Canada faces a balancing act in ensuring it is not siphoned by the government and gets to the Cuban people who need it, while also not further inflaming tensions with the United States.

“This is a Canadian government that came to power on the basis of distancing itself from an administration, the United States, that is very coercive,” said David Carment, global affairs professor at Carleton University. “And this is a clear test case for the Canadian government to demonstrate how far it’s willing to go.”

Speaking on background, a White House official would not say whether Canada would face reprisals for sending humanitarian aid but did confirm the Cuban embargo remains in place with an aim of “holding the Cuban regime accountable.” Earlier this month, Mexico sent two ships to Cuba delivering supplies including powdered milk and beans.