A day after the first two ships of the Mexican Navy arrived in Cuba with food and other products, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was willing to assist the air routes to the Caribbean country. Moscow, for its part, confirmed that it will "materially" assist the island despite the "very strong pressure" from the United States. While international support initiatives are being added, Cuba suffers daily blackouts due to the oil blockade of the Donald Trump Administration.

First modification: 02/13/2026 - 19:24 Last modification: 02/14/2026 - 01:00

International solidarity is multiplying to try to give some relief to Cubans, affected by the serious energy crisis that has worsened since the United States imposed a blockade on the supply of oil to the Caribbean island.

At the head of these initiatives has been Mexico, which on Thursday confirmed the arrival of a first shipment of 814 tons of humanitarian aid, distributed on two ships of its Navy. Different types of non-perishable foods, milk, oil and personal hygiene products were part of the first shipment of this type, which the Mexican Government has promised to maintain.

Within the framework of this historic position of regional cooperation, this Friday, February 13, President Claudia Sheinbaum opened the door to formally establishing an airlift "if Cuba requests it" to facilitate flights to the island, given Cuba's inability to supply aviation fuel.

Sheinbaum defended that "flights are not closed now" to Havana and explained that aircraft can refuel in Mexican territory to maintain or expand logistical cooperation.

"They can load, they can come to Mexico. Yes, in fact the Mexican flights of Mexican airlines are not closed to Cuba because there is jet fuel (fuel) here and it is very close," he stressed.

Faced with the US threat of imposing trade tariffs on countries that provide crude oil and fuel to Cuba, Mexico has paralyzed these shipments, while resorting to diplomatic mechanisms to try to resume them and maintaining humanitarian assistance, calculating the limits of Washington's intolerance.

Russia will "materially" help Cuba despite "very strong pressure" from the US.

Russia, another ally of Cuba and a regular fuel supplier, continues to evaluate how to assist the island without clashing with the United States.

In statements to the TASS agency, the Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, stressed that "we will help, including materially" to Cuba and, without giving more details, he noted that "it is already being done."

According to Riabkov, other countries friendly to Havana that are part of the BRICS forum "are doing the maximum possible," despite what he described as "very strong pressure" from Washington on the Cuban regime.

"Within the framework of the updated Monroe Doctrine, Washington does not stop at any illegal method that tramples on the foundations of international law," he stated.

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The Kremlin official avoided specifying what this "material" aid will be, a day after the Izvestia newspaper reported that Moscow "expects the supply soon" of oil "as humanitarian aid."

However, presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov noted that Russia does not intend an escalation with the White House.

Chile, an international flotilla, remittances: other forms of aid to Cuba

With different ideological perspectives and disparate tools, actors seek to send assistance to the population of Cuba.

The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, ratified the announcement by his Foreign Minister, Alberto van Klaveren, about an early shipment of aid to the island.

The president – ​​who in March will hand over the position to the far-right José Antonio Kast, a staunch critic of Cuban Castroism – indicated that a significant donation of money will be channeled through Unicef ​​"along with other Latin American countries" and called for "ending this inhumane blockade."

Boric, once a defender of the Cuban regime during his time as a student leader, has qualified his position as president, calling the island's communist government a "dictatorship." However, in his account on

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On the other hand, an international coalition of social movements, humanitarian groups and unions is promoting the 'Our America' flotilla, a contingent of ships that will set sail from the Caribbean in March with a group of volunteers to bring "food, medicine and essential supplies" to the island.

The initiative, similar to those carried out by activists who tried unsuccessfully to break Israel's total blockade of Gaza, responds to the "responsibility to act" when "governments apply collective punishment," said David Adler, one of the organizers of the flotilla.

Meanwhile, from another ideological arc, the EFE agency has reported that Cuban exiles in the United States are accelerating shipments of food and medicine to their families on the island, while expressing their support for the blockade imposed by Donald Trump and even asking that restrictions be lifted so that "the regime falls."

DD Council. HH. UN says US blockade breaches UN Charter

Another of the international actors that joined the repudiation of the United States blockade of Cuba is the UN Human Rights Office, which warned that Washington is failing to comply with the Charter of Nations and international law with its sanctions against the island, which is causing the "dismantling" of the food, health and water supply systems.

The organization's spokesperson, Marta Hurtado, pointed out that "this type of sectoral sanctions affect the most vulnerable, are not effective and do not comply with either the United Nations Charter or international law because the sanctions must be imposed by the (UN) Security Council, not by a country."

For his part, in a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stressed that "political objectives cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights" and urged that all unilateral sectoral sanctions be left without effect.

From that office they emphasized that the United States is preventing the Cuban State itself from fulfilling its obligation to care for the most vulnerable, although it stressed that the island's authorities bear the responsibility of guaranteeing that there are supplies.

At the same time, he recalled that the island's government must respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, two aspects long affected by the repression of the Cuban regime.

Daily blackouts leave more than half of Cuba without electricity for several hours

Since the beginning of the United States oil blockade, the state company Unión Eléctrica de Cuba has extended scheduled service cuts for several hours and in areas that exceed half of the island's territory.

According to the company's calculations, the simultaneous blackouts during the day on Friday will affect 57% of the country during the time of highest demand in the evening.

Although the energy crisis is an endemic evil in the Caribbean nation that has worsened since mid-2024, the current United States oil siege has only deepened the blackouts throughout the country.

On the other hand, the cascade of consequences of the crisis has affected tourism, Cuba's main source of income, and has led governments to advise against travel by their nationals to the island.

This Friday, South Korea joined in, raising the travel alert to Cuba to level 2 due to power outages and the interruption of basic services.

For this reason, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Asian country urges travelers who are in Cuba to take extreme precautions and avoid unnecessary trips, while recommending that those thinking of traveling to the island reconsider their plans.

With EFE and Reuters

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