analysis<\/a> published in April found Cuba\u2019s crude imports had fallen from more than two million barrels a month in early 2025 to almost nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cSince January, the pressure on Cuba\u2019s energy imports has skyrocketed,\u201d said Bustamante.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost governments seem to have taken [the U.S. threats] seriously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cuba is particularly vulnerable because a majority of Cuba\u2019s electricity generation relies on imported oil.<\/p>\n
\u201cCutting off \u2026 energy supply, which generates electricity, which makes transportation function, which fuels factories, and so on, that has had a disastrous impact on people\u2019s living standards, on economic activity, and on tourism,\u201d said Ritter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Cuban embassy in Ottawa highlighted the severe impacts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHospitals have had to ration energy for critical equipment,\u201d the spokesperson told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement. \u201cFamilies struggle with basic cooking and refrigeration, compounding vulnerabilities for the elderly, children, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuba also relies on other countries for other essential goods. It imports between 70 and 80 per cent of the food consumed by its population, says Bustamante.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Cuba] put investment in tourism disproportionately, incredibly, and not in agriculture where it was needed,\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s cautious response<\/p>\n
On April 17, Global Affairs Canada announced $5.5-million in international assistance for Cuba. The funds will go to the Pan American Health Organization and the World Food Programme.<\/p>\n
This funding comes on top of an additional $8-million in aid provided earlier this year through the World Food Programme and UNICEF. On average, Canada has provided $6.8-million in aid a year to Cuba over the last five years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organizations such as UNICEF, the World Food Programme and charities are now filling gaps once covered by Cuba\u2019s own social welfare state, says Bustamante.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThat\u2019s an irony that\u2019s not lost on the Cuban people that were raised \u2014\u00a0at least if they were around before the 1990s \u2014 on a social welfare state that was cradle-to-grave in providing a baseline level of support,\u201d said Bustamante.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s language around the crisis has been cautious. In its public statements, Ottawa has avoided directly blaming U.S. sanctions for the humanitarian deterioration.<\/p>\n
That caution reflects the political sensitivity of the Cuba file, Bustamante says.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments, whether it\u2019s Mexico or Canada or Spain \u2026 are going to be treading very, very cautiously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Cuban embassy, by contrast, directly blamed the crisis on what it described as a \u201cgenocidal economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government for more than 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The embassy spokesperson claimed recent American measures amounted to an \u201cenergy warfare strategy\u201d intended to \u201casphyxiate\u201d Cuba\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government of Cuba views Canada\u2019s recent humanitarian assistance with gratitude and as an example of principled solidarity between friendly peoples, aligned with our historic fraternal ties,\u201d the embassy spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Global Affairs Canada declined to answer whether Ottawa believes U.S. sanctions are responsible for the crisis. Canada\u2019s longstanding position is that \u201cdialogue, respect for international law, and peaceful engagement are essential to addressing complex situations,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
A familiar divide\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlike the United States, Canada has maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba continuously since the revolution that transformed Cuba from a free-market economy to a communist state in the 1950s.<\/p>\n
Ritter argues Canada should maintain its independence on this file.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is a situation in which the middle powers need to act,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s reasonable to expect the rest of the world to knuckle under to a United States policy towards Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI think we do share the U.S. opinion of Cuba\u2019s political system,\u201d said Ritter. \u201cBut it is not reasonable to punish Cuban citizens the way American policy is doing at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House itself appears to be balancing pressure on Cuba against concerns about instability and mass migration from the island, says Bustamante. The federal government is channeling modest humanitarian aid<\/a> to Cuba, primarily through Catholic charities.<\/p>\n\u201cThe United States is walking a very, very delicate line with the degree of economic coercion it\u2019s exercising,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Bustamante cautions against reducing the crisis to a simple morality play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the United States is weaponizing humanitarian suffering here,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that gives the Cuban government a pass on its human rights record. It doesn\u2019t give the Cuban government a pass on its disastrous economic mismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read: 4 min In April, Ottawa modestly increased its humanitarian aid to Cuba, a country that has endured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,6851,2305,4709,1645],"class_list":["post-43027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-development-aid","tag-politics-policy","tag-pressreader","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}