Mexico’s PEMEX Halts Oil Shipments to Cuba

MIAMI - Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos–or PEMEX–has suspended a scheduled shipment of crude oil products to the Cuban government, according to a report by Bloomberg, an indication that increasing political pressure from the administration in Washington is beginning to influence the decision-making processes of the Mexican government of Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum, a staunch opponent of North American intervention in Latin America, was one of the region’s most vocal critics of the U.S. administration’s aggressive posture towards the dictatorial regime of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, who, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, is now awaiting trial in a New York detention facility on drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.

The former president and Venezuela’s first lady were both apprehended during a nighttime raid into Caracas by U.S. special forces on Jan. 3, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban military and security personnel.

The decision to shelve the Mexican oil delivery, which was expected to arrive in Havana by the end of January, will deprive the island and the Cuban regime of desperately needed energy supplies, supplies which have kept the Cuban government afloat since Mexico began to fill the void of reduced Venezuelan oil subsidies, shortened by economic turmoil in Caracas.

Although the scrapped PEMEX shipment of crude was not followed up with a response by the Secretariat of Energy and the Mexican government, the decision to halt further shipments to Cuba coincides with a steady build-up of political pressure from officials in Washington to steer Mexican oil exports away from the Cuban island, which has gradually moved into the crosshairs of socialist hawks in the Trump administration.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long eyed the possibility of facilitating a fundamental transformation of the political situation in Havana, which has remained a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy towards the Latin American region for almost three-quarters of a century.

The Cuban regime has benefited from the sale of subsidized Venezuelan oil for years, and with recent developments in Caracas and the transition to democratic governance in Venezuela, potentially underway and under the supervision of officials in Washington, the Trump administration has begun the process of systematically weakening the regime in Havana by depriving it of its lifeblood: oil.

Shortly after the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump declared on social media, “There will be no more oil or money for Cuba — zero!”, sparking a quick response from authorities in Havana in an attempt to fend off “U.S. imperialism” and “North American colonialism.”

Rubio, too, has been overheard fantasizing over the likely demise of socialist Cuba, reportedly saying, “All roads lead to Havana”, according to sources close to the White House.

In recent days, the Cuban government has rallied thousands of government loyalists to the streets of the capital to protest the U.S. operation in Caracas and to condemn the U.S. “aggression.” The government has also shared propaganda videos of Soviet-era 2S1 Gvozdika (or similar Soviet/Russian self-propelled howitzers) emerging from Cuba’s rough terrain at an undisclosed location deep in the Cuban jungles.

The administration in Washington has previously warned the Mexican government of the threat of military force to take on the violent drug cartels in Mexican territory.

Sheinbaum, however, has shut down the potential for U.S. forces violating the “national sovereignty” of Mexico during a phone call with the U.S. president, in which Sheinbaum says Trump “insisted that if we ask for it, they could help.”

The Mexican government has repeatedly defended the supply of crude oil to Cuba as “humanitarian aid.” Only a few days ago, Sheinbaum also stated that the Mexican government will continue its shipments to Cuba that are aimed at alleviating the stresses of the Cuban economy.