TORONTO: Canada on Wednesday announced C$8 million (US$5.8 million) in humanitarian aid for Cuba, where a US-imposed blockade has worsened fuel shortages, blackouts and deepened an economic crisis.
Canada’s foreign ministry said the aid would be channeled through the United Nation’s World Food Program and children’s agency UNICEF to ensure it “reaches the Cuban people directly”.
After US forces snatched Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro in a Jan 3 raid, the Latin American country has been forced to cut off its crucial oil shipments to Cuba.
This has plunged Cuba into a further economic morass. On Wednesday, Washington announced it was rolling back sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba, allowing “transactions that support the Cuban people”.
Caribbean leaders have sounded an alarm about the deteriorating humanitarian condition in the country, warning it risks destabilising the region.
Unlike the US, Canada kept ties with Cuba after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
“As the people of Cuba face significant hardship, Canada stands in solidarity and is providing targeted assistance to help address urgent needs,” foreign minister Anita Anand said in a statement Wednesday announcing the aid.
