China Sends Rice to Cuba Amid Humanitarian Crisis

Havana. China has sent rice to Cuba, which is facing a serious humanitarian crisis. China will send a total of 60,000 tons of rice to Cuba to provide relief from the current crisis. 

Fifteen thousand tons of rice reached Havana port in the first phase on Saturday. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed gratitude to China for the rice aid by posting on social media on Sunday.

He expressed deep gratitude to China and also thanked the members of the European Parliament who oppose the pressure campaign against Cuba. Since January this year, the United States has imposed stricter sanctions on Cuba.

With the second term of US President Donald Trump, the US adopted a tough policy against Cuba. Diaz-Canel called the US move collective punishment and said that a situation akin to genocide has been created for the Cuban people.

Cuba's dependence on China has increased for assistance at a time when the US is trying to stop China's growing influence in Latin America. China had previously provided solar panels to improve Cuba's old energy infrastructure. According to reports, the US has almost stopped oil supply to Cuba since January. Meanwhile, oil and financial aid to Cuba was stopped from Venezuela after US action against then-President Nicolas Maduro.

After that, the US declared Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat and warned of economic sanctions against countries supplying oil to it. Cuba's Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy had said at the beginning of this month that the country's oil reserves had run out.