Havana (AFP) – The first boat of a flotilla carrying medical supplies, food, and solar panels reached Cuba on Tuesday to aid the island as a US fuel blockade deepens its energy crisis. The Maguro shrimp fishing boat docked in Havana three days later than hoped, after battling strong winds, currents, and a pesky battery, with two other ships due to follow.
As they approached the port and its colonial-era fortification, activists stood on the cabin roof of the boat — symbolically renamed “Granma 2.0” as a tribute to the yacht used by Fidel Castro’s guerrilla fighters to launch their revolution in 1956. The first shipments arrived by plane from Europe and the United States last week as part of an air and sea mission, dubbed Our America Convoy, to bring some 50 tonnes of aid to Cuba.
The activists say the effort, which had the support of the government, aims to bring relief to Cubans in the wake of a US oil blockade that President Donald Trump launched in January. The country has suffered seven nationwide blackouts since 2024 — two of them only this past week — due to aging thermoelectric plants and a shortage of oil.
The situation has deteriorated since Trump ordered a military operation to capture Cuba’s chief regional ally, Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, in January — depriving the country of its main oil supplier. Trump subsequently threatened to slap tariffs on any country that ships oil to Cuba.
© 2024 AFP
