Cuban fuel shortage: U.S. blockade of oil grounds flights in Cuba

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Cuban fuel shortage: U.S. blockade of oil grounds flights in Cuba

Cuba's fuel shortage hits during peak tourist season, grounding flights as the Trump administration's pressure tightens the island's oil supplies.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The U.S. blockade of oil for Cuba is starting to have serious effects. One big one - Cuba's airports have run out of fuel. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: The U.S. has had an embargo on Cuba for decades. But the Trump administration has tightened the screws, and its latest move is designed to starve the island of fuel. After the U.S. took military action in Venezuela, it stopped oil shipments from there. Mexico then became the biggest provider of oil to Cuba, and then President Trump tacitly threatened Mexico, saying any country shipping oil to Cuba would face tariffs. According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba hasn't received an oil shipment since December.

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PRESIDENT MIGUEL DIAZ-CANEL: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "What does it mean not to allow a drop of fuel to enter a country?"

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DIAZ-CANEL: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "It means the disruption of food production, public transport, our hospitals."

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DIAZ-CANEL: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "Our schools." In the days that followed, Cuba announced new limited schedules for everything from government buildings to banks to trains and ferries in order to save fuel and electricity. And then Cuban authorities warned airlines that all its major airports had run out of fuel. Air Canada suspended its flights and said it would send empty planes to pick up the 3,000 Canadians on vacation packages in Cuba. Cuba gets a lot of its foreign currency from visitors, and Canadians make up a vast majority of the tourists who visit Cuba. Cuban officials say they will subsist with creativity and help from friendly nations.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the oil shipments were on pause, but that Mexico had sent two ships with 800 tons of food aid. Sheinbaum said the sanctions against Cuba and the threats against them were, quote, "unjust." You could be against the Cuban government, she said.

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PRESIDENT CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: But sanctions should never affect the people.

Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

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