Havana, May 5 (Prensa Latina) The Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, today described as illegal the unilateral measures imposed by the United States against the island through an executive order signed on May 1.

Photo: Panchito 

In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina, the diplomat noted that the economic, commercial and financial blockade applied by Washington for more than six decades “has caused profound suffering to the Cuban people.”

He stated that the recent intensification of coercive measures, including secondary measures against third countries, “gravely violates the rights of the Cuban people to survival and development, and severely contravenes the basic norms of international relations.”

The ambassador emphasized that China firmly opposes any form of extraterritorial economic pressure and strongly condemns unilateral actions that ignore the majority will of the international community.

“Some are trying to blame the Cuban Party and Government, but this is just looking for pretexts for further aggression,” the diplomat said.

Hua recalled that the blockade imposed on Cuba constitutes the longest-running case of economic coercion in contemporary history, and that its humanitarian effects are exacerbated in a global context marked by energy shortages and supply crises.

“We value the unwavering will of the Cuban people and government to safeguard national independence and dignity in the face of maximum external pressure,” he emphasized.

China, he added, firmly supports Cuba in defending its sovereignty and national security and opposes any form of external interference.

The ambassador announced that his country will continue to provide humanitarian assistance and development cooperation to Cuba, to the best of its ability, to help the people face current challenges and improve their living conditions.

“We will continue to speak out in defense of Cuba and, together with countries that oppose hegemony, we will strengthen the international voice against the policy of force,” he said.

Hua expressed his conviction that, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba, the people “will unite and overcome the current difficulties.”

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Havana, May 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez today congratulated Ariadna Montiel on her election as president of the Morena party in Mexico, and reiterated the desire to deepen the historic ties of friendship between the two peoples.

“We will continue to deepen the historic bonds of friendship between the peoples of Mexico and Cuba. We appreciate your solidarity and ongoing support,” the Foreign Minister stated on his social media account.

Earlier, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also sent his congratulations to Montiel after her appointment at the VIII Extraordinary National Congress of Morena, and thanked him for the expressions of solidarity and support for the island shown during his speech at the event.

In his first speech as leader of the ruling National Regeneration Movement, Montiel endorsed President Claudia Sheinbaum’s call to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade that the United States has imposed on Cuba for more than six decades.

“Mexico is a beacon in the world, because we defend national sovereignty and the self-determination of peoples, and from here we also say very clearly: we support the call of our president in Barcelona to end the economic blockade against our brother country of Cuba,” said the new president of Morena.

Montiel maintained that the blockade imposed by Washington “is leading to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” and reaffirmed that Mexican solidarity “will always be with the people of Cuba.”

For more than six decades, the United States has applied an economic, commercial and financial blockade against the largest of the Antilles, which was tightened last January through an executive order signed by the US president, Donald Trump.

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April 25, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

The presidents of Spain, Mexico and Brazil issued a joint statement expressing their concern for Cuba’s humanitarian crisis and committing to ramp up a “coordinated response.”

​The statement comes after the IV Summit in Defense of Democracy, which gathered progressive leaders from several countries in Barcelona on Saturday.

Mexico has already been sending aid to Cuba in recent months and its president Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she’s looking to expand investment as well.

“We reiterate the need to respect International Law at all times, as well as the principles of territorial integrity, sovereign equality, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,” the statement reads.

During the Summit, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he was worried about Cuba, but that the island’s issues were “for the Cubans to resolve. It’s not up to Lula, Claudia or Trump.” He also called on the U.S. to “stop that damn blockade of Cuba and let Cubans live their lives.”

https://www.agweb.com/news/neighbor-need-why-cubas-energy-collapse-could-spark-u-s-ag-export-surge

With domestic production at record lows and private sector taking the lead, the island nation could leaning on U.S. producers more than ever.

By Haley Bickelhaupt

March 30, 2026 02:38 PM

Cuba looks the worst Paul Johnson has seen it in the 20 years he’s spent traveling to the country. The Chair of the United States Agriculture Coalition for Cuba landed back in Miami, after a week in Havana. He experienced blackouts in the city, sometimes 24 hours at a time.

Humanitarian aid arrived on shore in Havanna on March 24. The country has begun restoring power after its third nationwide power outage in the last month. Johnson says Cuban’s are without refrigerators and few cars are running.

“That has a tremendous impact on people’s psyche,but also the daily life and how things get done not only in the cities, but in rural Cuba as well where the conditions are even worse,” Johnson says. “A lack of fuel impacts everything– the entire system is dependent on electricity, the entire grid.”

$40-a-Gallon Gas and a Grid in Collapse

Johnson says gas costs about $40 a gallon on the black market in Cuba. “In the fields where production is happening, or not happening, tractors aren’t running,” he says. “We’re seeing a real challenge of getting food from the fields to markets.”

USDA reports, the U.S. exported $476.74 million in agricultural goods to Cuba in 2025. Poultry was the top commodity, accounting for about 62% of the sales. Johnson expects overall exports to drop this year, because the energy crisis is making it difficult to transport food. However, he believes there are many opportunities to expand U.S. exports in the future because food production is low.

““Because we are so close, because we’re building this relationship with the private sector, and because production in Cuba is so low that creates a need for U.S. exports,” he says.

In 2021, Cuba opened over 2,000 industries up to the private sector. The shift has opened the doors for U.S. agricultural exports. Johnson says today about 70% of agricultural sales are going to the private sector. “Why? Because they have money and the Cuban government does not,” Johnson says. “We’re also finding that this private sector reacts quicker as you can imagine. They’re much more dynamic and they’re filling in the gaps as they go along.”

Rice: A Massive Deficit for U.S. Growers to Fill

In 2024, a report by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service says between marketing years 2016/17 and 2023/24 rice production in Cuba fell from 335,000 metric tons to 140,000 metric tons. USDA reported in 2025, Cuba imported about $16 million dollars of rice from the U.S.

“Cubans depend on rice in every meal. But production in Cuba is down to about 10%,” Johson says. “They consume around 700,000 tons of rice a year and they’re only producing about 75,000 times today. That is one example of the opportunities for our U.S. Rice producers to export more rice to Cubans.”

Looking Toward a Two-Way Future

Johnson says he believes two-way trade between the U.S. and the Caribbean country is incredibly important. “In my experience with American farmers, when they go down to Cuba, they’re really most interested in helping out their neighbors. They see Cuban farmers as their neighbors, and they want to help them,” he says.

He also believes collaboration between U.S Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service and Cuba needs to improve in order to keep disease contained and increase Cuba’s food production.

“I think everyone I spoke to from the street to the government, the top of the government. Everyone says the same thing, ‘something’s got to change,” he says. “Everyone recognizes the need for change. What that change looks like? Is what we’re all trying to guess at.”

Hanoi, April 23 (Prensa Latina) The president of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Tran Hong Thai, stated here today that cooperation with Cuba in these areas will be developed in all possible fields and without limits.

We are going to define the missions and tasks to be deployed in a short time, not only in research, but also in the manufacture of products that benefit the health of our people, said the member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCV) in a meeting with the vice president of the BioCubaFarma business group, Santiago Dueñas.

Hong Thai emphasized that scientific cooperation, particularly in biotechnology and the biopharmaceutical industry, is a key topic in top-level discussions between the two countries and announced the creation of a working group within the Academy tasked with implementing collaboration in these areas.

He also highlighted the great potential that exists to create goods and generate income by leveraging joint intelligence, and made the facilities of that institution available to Cuban scientists to carry out research projects.

The head of the Academy of Science and Technology shared his views at a meeting prior to the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Group of Cuba (BioCubaFarma) and the Institutes of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Science of Vietnam.

On that occasion, the Cuban ambassador here, Rogelio Polanco, pointed out that the signing of this agreement will make an important contribution to the fulfillment of the extraordinary objectives that Vietnam has set for itself in its socio-economic development program and also to the plans set by Cuba in the same regard.

Our people, the diplomat said, need concrete and rapid results, not only for the benefit of Vietnam and Cuba, but for all of humanity.

For his part, the vice president of BioCubaFarma thanked Hong Thai for the offer made to Cuban researchers and for the demonstrated willingness not only to expand, but also to accelerate joint projects.

Dueñas agreed that the possible areas of collaboration are large and unlimited and made available to this endeavor the more than one thousand products and more than 400 research projects that make up the business group’s portfolio.

“Our best experts and projects will be available for this cooperation,” he said, and also extended an invitation to Vietnamese researchers to work on joint programs in Cuba.

At the meeting, the Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Chu Hoang Ha, said he expected significant results from this collaboration and also expressed his satisfaction that Vietnamese experts could acquire the experience accumulated by Cuba in these areas.

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