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US-Cuba Ties
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Sunday she plans to send humanitarian aid to Cuba this week, including food and other humanitarian aid. Sheinbaum's comments came after US President Donald Trump said he asked the Mexican leader to suspend oil shipments to the Caribbean island. Sheinbaum said at a public event in the northern state of Sonora that she did not discuss Cuban affairs in a phone conversation with Trump on Thursday. She added that her government seeks to " diplomatically solve everything related to the oil shipments (to Cuba) for humanitarian reasons." Earlier, Trump told reporters that he told the Mexican president not to send oil to Cuba. Following the US military operation carried out in early January to remove Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, the South American nation suspended oil shipments to Cuba, which had been declining in recent years. Mexico then became the main supplier of crude oil and refined products to Havana. Mexican oil has long acte
President Donald Trump said the US was beginning to talk with Cuban leaders as his administration is putting greater pressure on the communist-run island and cutting off key oil supplies. The Republican president made the comment to reporters on Saturday night as he was flying to Florida. It comes in the wake of his moves in recent weeks to cut off supplies of oil from Venezuela and Mexico, which he suggested Saturday would force Cuba to the negotiating table. His goals with Cuba remain unclear, but Trump has turned more of his attention toward the island after his administration in early January captured Venezuela's then-President Nicolas Maduro and has been more aggressive in confronting nations that are adversaries of the US. Trump has predicted that the Cuban government is ready to fall. He did not offer any details on Saturday about what level of outreach his administration has had with Cuba recently or when, but simply said, "We're starting to talk to Cuba." His recent moves
Cuban Ambassador to India Juan Carlos Marsan Aguilera on Monday strongly condemned the US military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, terming it a "criminal act" and a "terrorist act" that violates the United Nations Charter and international law. In an exclusive interview with PTI Videos here, Aguilera emphasised that no single nation can stop the United States from such unilateral actions and called for the world to unite forces to counter what he described as Washington's "madness" in international policy. "This US military aggression towards Venezuela, in my opinion, is a criminal act. It's a terrorist act because it violates all the principles contained in the United Nations Charter and international law. It is a unilateral action against a sovereign country," the ambassador said. Highlighting broader US actions, including tariff wars, threats to Iran and military strikes, the ambassador stressed the need for global unity.
Cuban officials on Monday lowered flags before dawn to mourn 32 security officers they say were killed in the US weekend strike in Venezuela, the island nation's closest ally, as residents here wonder what the capture of President Nicols Maduro means for their future. The two governments are so close that Cuban soldiers and security agents were often the Venezuelan president's bodyguards, and Venezuela's petroleum has kept the economically ailing island limping along for years. Cuban authorities over the weekend said the 32 had been killed in the surprise attack but have given no further details. The Trump administration has warned outright that toppling Maduro will help advance another decades-long goal: Dealing a blow to the Cuban government. Severing Cuba from Venezuela could have disastrous consequences for its leaders, who on Saturday called for the international community to stand up to state terrorism. On Saturday, Trump said the ailing Cuban economy will be further battere
President Donald Trump has instructed his top Cabinet officials to review the US policy toward Cuba, ordering them to examine current sanctions and come up with ways to toughen them within 30 days. In a memo on Monday, Trump said the reviews should focus on Cuba's treatment of dissidents, its policies directed at dissidents and restricting financial transactions that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government, military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people". In one potential significant change, the order said the US should look for ways to shut down all tourism to the island and to restrict educational tours to groups that are organised and run only by American citizens. The move is not a surprise given that Trump has previously said he plans to rescind the easing of sanctions and other penalties in Cuba that were instituted during the terms of former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In the days before leaving office, Biden mov
A fleet of Russian warships, including a nuclear-powered submarine, left Havana's port on Monday after a five-day visit to Cuba following planned military drills in the Atlantic Ocean. The exercise has been seen by some as a show of strength by Moscow against the backdrop of tensions as US and other Western nations support Kyiv in Russia's war on Ukraine. The submarine, a frigate, an oil tanker and a rescue tug slowly departed from the port on Monday morning. It's unclear what the fleet's next destination is or where it will dock next in the Caribbean, although US officials said days ago that the vessels could possibly also stop in Venezuela. Officials with the Biden administration said last week that they were monitoring the vessels and confirmed that they did not pose a threat to the region or indicate a transfer of missiles. Still, the United States docked a submarine, the USS Helena, at its Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The American naval base, located in the southeastern