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The Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar criticized the shipment of from Mexico to Cuba this Thursday, following the arrival of two Mexican Navy ships at the port of Havana with over 800 tons of food and basic products.
The vessels, belonging to the Mexican Navy, transported supplies intended—according to Mexican authorities—for the Cuban people amid the economic and energy crisis facing the island.
The Cuban Ambassador in Mexico, Eugenio Martínez, celebrated the arrival of the shipments on the social network X. “The Havana coastline welcomes the two vessels from the Secretary of the Navy with the material aid donated by Mexico to Cuba. Thank you, Mexico! Coming to port soon and to the Cuban population,” the diplomat wrote.
"That it reaches the average Cuban."
However, Salazar questioned on the social media platform X the delivery mechanism of the aid and warned that, in her view, the supplies might not reach the most needy population.
"If Mexico truly wants to help the Cuban people, it should ensure that this aid reaches the ordinary Cuban, not the corrupt elite of the regime," he stated.
The legislator stated that any shipment managed directly through the Cuban government would ultimately benefit the ruling elite.
"Nothing that is sent directly to the dictatorship will be seen by the average Cuban. It ends up in hotels and on the tables of the repressors," he noted.
Salazar went further by stating that sending products to the regime "does not help the people," but rather makes one "an accomplice of a murderous tyranny."
Debate on the fate of aid
The Mexican shipment occurs in a context of increasing food scarcity, prolonged blackouts, and supply issues in Cuba, a situation that has prompted gestures of solidarity from some Latin American governments.
However, the fate and distribution of international aid to the island has historically been a point of controversy between those who believe it should be directed straight to the population and those who advocate for bilateral cooperation between states.
So far, the Cuban authorities have not provided specific details about the distribution mechanism for the products that arrived in Havana on Thursday.
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