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The Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries of Uruguay, Alfredo Fratti, announced this Tuesday that the government of Yamandú Orsi will send corned beef to Cuba by airplane, as part of the humanitarian aid that the Río Plata country initiated days ago with the shipment of 15 tons of powdered milk.
According to local media such as Subrayado, this new shipment adds to the cargo that arrived yesterday in Havana aboard a ship from Mexico, which also carried the assistance provided by the Uruguayan government.
Help does not arrive at just any moment. Cuba is experiencing one of its worst crises in decades, with blackouts exceeding 19 hours a day in Havana, an electricity deficit greater than 2,000 megawatts during peak hours, and a widespread shortage of food and medications.
According to the Food Monitor Program, 80% of respondents reported that power outages affected their ability to cook, and one in three Cuban households stated that at least one member went to bed hungry in the past month.
Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked for the shipment yesterday on his X account. "On behalf of the Cuban people, we express our deepest gratitude for the new shipment of solidarity aid from Mexico and Uruguay, two nations to which we are united by a great affection," he wrote.
Díaz-Canel took the opportunity in his message to attribute the crisis to the U.S. embargo. "This donation, which arrives during very difficult days for Cuba due to the direct and multidimensional impact of the U.S. blockade on our people's daily lives, is a living testament to the historic solidarity between our peoples," he added.
However, the Cuban crisis is the result of decades of failed management by the dictatorship, which has led to the collapse of the electrical system, agricultural production, and the basic supply for the population.
The shipment of corned beef by air is not without controversy. Uruguay had already sent a first batch of 20 tons of powdered milk in March and a second batch of 17 tons in May, but complaints arose that bags of Conaprole powdered milk weighing 25 kg appeared for sale in Cuban state stores controlled by the military conglomerate GAESA at a price of 243 dollars per bag, an unaffordable price for the vast majority of Cubans.
In response to those accusations, the Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin announced that the government will require proof of the final destination of its donations and clarified that the aid is a "gesture of solidarity from Uruguay, not with a country or with a regime."
The Cuban-Uruguayan congresswoman Leydis Aguilera was one of the voices that publicly denounced the resale of donated products in stores that accept freely convertible currency, out of reach for the average citizen.
Mexico, under the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, has led the regional response with over 3,125 tons of humanitarian aid sent to Cuba in at least six maritime shipments since February 2026, including food, medicine, hygiene products, and solar panels.
The World Food Program estimates that 36% of Cubans face food insecurity, while five provinces report critical levels: Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Guantánamo, and Santiago de Cuba.
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