Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
On September 26 this year, Bloomberg reported that Mexico is sending free oil to Cuba. It noted that 350,000 barrels of crude oil were sent in June, while in July, twice as much was sent: 700,000 barrels. Mexico gave Cuba oil with a market value of approximately 77 million dollars between those two months.
Bloomberg also reported that Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, said in New York that “those donations” were made through the International Development Cooperation Agency. She did not clarify or conceal earlier and later “donations”. Now that oil prices have risen about 25% in the last three months, the burden on the state-owned oil company PEMEX is too heavy for a company in a legal situation of technical bankruptcy. The only thing keeping PEMEX functional is billions of dollars in infusions from the Mexican federal treasury.
Previous Mexican governments, Bloomberg notes, have demanded that Cuba respect the human rights of its citizens and called for an end to the repressive practices of the island’s regime. However, Mexico’s current government has chosen to ignore the systematic violation of human rights and prefers to extol the supposed “virtues” of the political regime even though it is a dictatorship.
However, another study on the shipment of Mexican oil to Cuba, made by the Energy Institute of the University of Texas, reports that in 2023 Mexico sent 200 million dollars worth of oil to Cuba. Thus, according to the report, Mexico has become one of the largest suppliers of oil to Cuba, along with Russia and Venezuela. In the case of Russia, one of the ways Cuba repays the Russian gesture is by sending Cuban “mercenaries” to fight with the invading Russian army in Ukraine.
The study reports that Cuba has received a total of 2.82 million barrels of crude oil and derivatives from Pemex since March 2023. The last shipment on record is from September 16 (coinciding with the presence of Cuban troops in the September 16 military parade in Mexico City’s Zocalo), leaving the port of Pajaritos, Veracruz, with 350,000 barrels of crude in the tanker Vilma (Cuban flagged), worth around 30 million dollars.
If Mexico persists in giving oil to Cuba, it must receive a tangible consideration and one corresponding to the principles guiding our foreign policy. The relationship must be complemented by applying universal principles to defend human rights and respect for countries’ sovereignty. At the same time that Mexico correctly demands the lifting of U.S. sanctions against the island, it should also require that the Cuban government cease its repression of dissidents to the regime and accept free and open elections on the island. Only then can Mexico be a reliable partner as a voice to be respected internationally. Unilateral support for the Cuban dictatorship, without demanding respect for human rights, discredits our country as a trustworthy subject in international dialogue and places us on a par with the dictatorships in Russia and Venezuela.
This is the only way I can accept that they send free oil to Cuba in my name.
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