Havana (EFE).- The United Nations has been unable to effectively distribute nearly 20,000 tons of food in Cuba due the fuel shortage caused by the United States’ oil embargo, EFE confirmed through various sources.
The logistical challenge has coincided with an increase in need because of Washington’s maximum pressure policy, in effect since January, which has exacerbated the island’s severe energy, economic, and social crisis.
Several anonymous sources familiar with the situation explained to EFE that the World Food Programme currently has 11,000 tons of food and nutritional supplements stuck in the Cuban ports of Mariel (west) and Santiago de Cuba (east).
Other UN agencies, including UNICEF and UNDP, have several dozen containers in those same ports, and have managed to unload and distribute them at an extremely slow pace.
They also noted that the WFP has over 8,000 tons of staple foods in warehouses across the country.
The UN in Cuba has been unable to find a long-term, sustainable solution to secure the over 5 million liters of diesel it estimates it needs to carry out its work over 12 months.
Sources noted that purchasing that amount through the Cuban private sector in 24,000-liter isotanks would be extremely inefficient and costly.
Bringing it in from abroad in a tanker would also be costly and risky due to the US oil embargo.
In addition to the existing problems with aid on land, the UN is having difficulty delivering other containers of food and supplies purchased or committed to abroad to Cuba.
The problem stems from the expansion of sanctions against Cuba decreed by US President Donald Trump in the May 1 Executive Order, which affects companies and individuals with economic ties to the Cuban government or its companies.
As a result, the two main international shipping companies operating in Cuba, France’s CMA CGM and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, have decided to stop accepting new orders to Cuba. EFE
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