Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that Mexico ships oil to Cuba as humanitarian aid, and that that aid continues, amid pressure from Washington to end shipments to the Caribbean country.
"There are two channels through which oil is delivered to Cuba. One is through contracts that Petroleos Mexicanos enters into with some institution of the Cuban Government," Sheinbaum said at her morning press conference, when asked to expand on comments she made on Tuesday about the current state of her country's shipments of crude oil to Cuba.
"The other is humanitarian aid, which also involves sending oil...I never said whether it had been suspended or not suspended. Humanitarian aid to Cuba continues."
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum stated that shipment decisions were sovereign in nature and not based on US pressure but appeared to acknowledge that Mexico had halted a planned shipment to Cuba.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Raul Cortes; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle)
