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US-Venezuela conflict
ChinaDiplomacy

China sends emergency food aid to Cuba as US sanctions worsen shortages

First batch of rice arrives in Cuba under new Chinese programme while the island reels from abrupt halt in Venezuelan oil shipments

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Workers in Havana, Cuba stack donated rice that arrived from China on Monday. Photo: Xinhua
Cao Jiaxuanin Beijing
A new Chinese emergency aid programme has delivered its first shipment of rice to Cuba, where food and fuel shortages are expected to worsen as a tightened US blockade halts Venezuelan shipments.

Under the programme, China will send 30,000 tonnes of rice to the island nation, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The first shipment was handed over on Monday, while a second batch has arrived at the Port of Santiago de Cuba.

Additional deliveries are expected to leave China soon.

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The aid comes as Cuba confronts an abrupt halt in oil and fuel shipments from Venezuela, which has long been its most important energy partner.

Citing shipping data and internal documents from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, Reuters reported on Saturday that Caracas had not sent crude oil or refined fuel to the island for about a month. It said cargo had decreased due to American sanctions even before the US abducted former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

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Shipping records show that PDVSA’s last shipment of refined products left Venezuela’s Puerto Jose in mid-December. The tanker involved reportedly switched off its transponder while carrying about 600,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude.

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