Nicolás Maduro says that the crisis on the Island is due to the US embargo
14ymedio/EFE, Havana/Caracas, 19 October 2024 — The Government of Venezuela called on the international community on Friday to mobilize in support of Cuba, in view of the national blackout that the Island is experiencing, a situation for which Caracas holds the United States and its policy of economic sanctions responsible. Venezuela “expresses its absolute solidarity and unconditional support to the sister republic of Cuba, while facing the cyclical energy contingency, the product of the cruel intensification of the economic war and financial and energy persecution by the US Government,” Nicolás Maduro’s Executive said in a statement.
In his opinion, the “illegal blockade against the Cuban people” seeks “the application of a collective punishment, which represents a crime against humanity.” “Venezuela supports all the efforts heroically made by the people of Cuba as well as its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, to mitigate the impacts of the criminal unilateral coercive measures,” the letter reiterates.
In this sense, Caracas ratified that Cuba “has the full support” of the Venezuelan Government to face this situation and overcome it, while calling on other countries to support the island nation at this time. “Venezuela urges the international community, especially the Latin American and Caribbean, to mobilize in support of Cuba and absolutely condemn the infamous unilateral list of countries that supposedly support terrorism, facts that are undoubtedly the main cause of the effects Cuba suffers today,” the statement concludes.
Havana’s historical ally did not make a single mention of the regular oil shipments it sends to the Island as part of the agreements signed between Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. In September, the latest available data, Caracas sent about 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to Cuba, a considerable drop compared to 33,700 bpd in June and even 28,000 bpd in April.
The historical ally of Havana did not make a single mention of the regular oil shipments it sends to the Island
At that time, Maduro accused “an account called Anonymous” of “the extreme right, anti-Venezuelan,” which “works directly with the CIA,” of having sabotaged the national electricity system. The president did not offer details of the “attack,” but a few days later, a major power cut occurred in the country again. That, along with breakdowns suffered by the equipment, explains Reuters, forced them to postpone improvements for several more days, which ended up having an impact on fuel shipments.
The fall in the supply of Venezuelan crude oil coincides with the worsening of the energy crisis in Cuba, an argument supported by the expert of the University of Texas, Jorge Piñón, as he explained this Friday to Martí Noticias. “I know, from my sources, that Venezuela told Cuba that it would prioritize oil shipments to (the Spanish) Repsol and (the American) Chevron, which pay in cash, and that is what they need. […] They told Cuba to stand in line,” he explains. As for the aid from Russia and Mexico to Havana, the first has not quite materialized, and the second has decreased, says Piñón.
This Friday, after hours of “zero national energy coverage,” the Cuban Government announced that the National Energy System had a second “total disconnection,” making it clear that Cubans will spend more hours without electricity.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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