Cuba took delivery of 15,000 tons of rice donated by China on Sunday, the first of several promised shipments arriving at the port of Havana, helping to somewhat alleviate acute shortages on the Caribbean island.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on social media: "This noble gesture of solidarity will reach millions of consumers throughout all the provinces, in addition to our health and education institutions."
Chinese ambassador Hua Xin said on Cuban television that the deliveries represent "the largest food aid" from China to Cuba "in recent years."
The shipment is the first batch of 60,000 tons of rice that Beijing has pledged to help combat a dire economic situation in the communist country, which has only been exacerbated since the US toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and halted exports of oil from Venezuela to Cuba.
On Sunday, up to 64% of Cuba was set to be subjected to simultaneous blackouts, according to data from the state-run Electric Union. The Cuban government has recently acknowledged that the island's energy situation is "acute," "critical," and "extremely tense," with some blackouts in the capital Havana lasting 22 hours or more.
Last week, a record was set when 70% of Cuban territory was simultaneously without power during the moment of highest energy consumption. This week, the impact of these outages has fluctuated between 58% and 65% of the island.
The Havana government has called the current US oil embargo — imposed on top of a general US trade embargo in place since 1962 — "genocidal" and has accused Washington of "suffocating" the island. Cuba requires approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day to meet its energy needs, only about 40,000 of which are supplied by domestic production.
Meanwhile, the US regime under President Donald Trump continues to step up political pressure on Cuba, pushed by hardline Cuban-Americans in Florida. But ousting Diaz-Canel is unlikely to be as straightforward as the operation to remove Maduro in Venezuela, not least due to the lack of an obvious alternative.
Source: www.dw.com