Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, warned this Thursday that Cuba is undergoing a humanitarian crisis that directly threatens the lives of its population, from the youngest to the elderly, and called on global leaders to act urgently to ensure access to basic food and energy on the island.
The statements were collected by journalist Christiane Amanpour in an interview aired by CNN and published on social media the same day.
"There is a humanitarian crisis in Cuba," Mottley stated. "Unless we can address this humanitarian crisis, we are putting lives at risk, from babies to the elderly."
The Caribbean leader emphasized that the priority should be humanitarian assistance before any discussions on political reforms. "First, we must ensure that people have access to basic food and energy," she noted, adding that world leaders have the obligation to "do much more to resolve conflicts and minimize the impact on ordinary people."
Mottley also took advantage of the U.S. electoral context to extend the message: "I hope that, in the same way that the American electorate has indicated that people matter through their votes, we can extrapolate that it is not just people in the United States who matter, but people all around the world."
Mottley's warning is not new. Since February 2026, the Prime Minister has been in direct contact with the Cuban regime and has led CARICOM's efforts to establish a diplomatic bridge between Washington and Havana. In July, during the CARICOM summit in Castries, Saint Lucia, Mottley and the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, formalized that offer of mediation, although the 15 member states of the bloc failed to reach a common political stance.
On that occasion, Mottley recounted that an attempt to acquire powdered milk for babies intended for Cuba was rejected four times by banks before the payment could be processed, illustrating the concrete obstacles faced by those trying to send aid to the island.
The reality described by the leader is backed by alarming figures. On November 2, the Turkish floating power plant Erol Bey definitively left Cuba, further reducing an already stretched generation capacity. By November 4, the electricity availability was just 960 MW compared to a demand of 2,850 MW, with service interrupted around the clock and a maximum impact of 1,905 MW.
The food crisis is equally severe. The UN requested $94.1 million in humanitarian aid to assist nearly two million people across 63 municipalities in eight provinces, but by September it had only received approximately $42 million.
More than one third of Cuban households experienced persistent food insecurity at the beginning of the hurricane season, and up to 20,000 tons of donated food remained undistributed due to a lack of fuel.
"If we don't do what we preach and only talk, people won't believe us," Mottley concluded in her remarks to CNN, making a direct appeal to the international community to turn words into concrete actions in response to the rapid deterioration of living conditions in Cuba.
Filed under: