Cuban ambassador says US people ‘suffocating’, asks Canada for help – National
Cuba’s ambassador to Canada told MPs on Tuesday that the United States is “oppressing all people” and creating an economic and humanitarian crisis, and urged Ottawa to follow through on a promised aid package.
The US oil embargo has cut fuel and supplies to the increasingly vulnerable Caribbean island, as the Trump administration piles pressure on Cuba’s socialist government.
Speaking before the House of Foreign Affairs committee on Tuesday afternoon, Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said the lack of fuel has affected “every aspect of life in the country,” from food distribution to education to public health.
“The purpose of this oil embargo is clear: to create a humanitarian crisis and try to force regime change with it,” the ambassador told MPs.
“The punishment of an entire nation is an unjust crime. One may disagree with the country’s political project, but there is no right that justifies a great power – based on its economic and military power – interfering in its internal affairs, violating its independence. What is most acceptable is a great power trying to achieve its goals by oppressing all people.”
Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters Tuesday before a cabinet meeting that Ottawa is preparing aid for Cuba, but would not share details before its announcement “in the coming days.”
Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on February 13 that Canada is working to provide some assistance to the island.
“I’m very grateful for the decision or news that the Canadian government is considering to approve the aid package for Cuba,” said Diaz.
Cuba was facing economic difficulties before US President Donald Trump effectively cut off oil exports to the island by blocking its main supplier, Venezuela, and threatening tariffs on any country that stepped in to fill the gap.
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Mexico, another major supplier, suspended oil shipments after Trump threatened, which coincided with the declaration that Cuba represents an “extraordinary and unusual” national security threat to the US due to alleged foreign terrorist groups and intelligence bases of Russia and China.
That statement is “ridiculous,” Diaz said Tuesday.
“This massive escalation of Cuba is based on a campaign of lies. Furthermore, we must ask, is the United States acting in accordance with international law and the UN Charter? Does anyone have the right to force their will against another nation?”
After the United States arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, Trump predicted that the Cuban government was “ready to fall” next.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers late last month that “we would like to see change” in government, but added that the US would not “make” that change.
Attempts by other members of the committee to question Diaz about the Cuban government’s record on human rights, including alleged arrests of political activists, were rebuffed for being outside the meeting’s focus on the current crisis.
Diaz, however, defended the Cuban government while admitting that “we are not perfect.” He also denied allegations that Cuba has sent its troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
A fuel shortage has crippled Cuba’s electricity and forced airlines to ground flights after Havana’s main airport warned of a months-long shortage of jet fuel, threatening Cuba’s struggling tourism industry that has become heavily dependent on Canadian tourists.
The Cuban government has introduced a fuel rationing program, reducing utilities and reducing working and study hours.
Cuba’s health minister, José Ángel Portal Miranda, told the Associated Press last week that the already crumbling health care system has reached the brink of collapse with increased U.S. sanctions, threatening “fundamental human security.”
Diaz said the health care situation is “difficult,” including limited access to food, medicine and equipment. The fuel shortage has also hampered the ability to transfer patients to hospitals and treatment centers that generate energy, he said.
“Cuba has a very good health system that gives everyone free access, like Canada, and we are proud of it,” he said. “But it’s being destroyed by this US blockade situation.”
Although Rubio and other American officials blamed the poor management of the Cuban economy for the current crisis, Diaz said that the fault lies in the blocking of the American economy that has been booming for decades under Trump.
“There is a suggestion that Cuba is in this situation because it is a failed country, but it is not true,” he said. “If we failed, why are they so interested in destroying us?”
Mark Entwistle, who served as Canada’s ambassador to Cuba in the 1990s, told Global News in an interview this month that Trump’s campaign of pressure on Cuba puts countries like Canada “in a terrible situation.”
“The Canadian government … needs to manage the relationship with the US in a smart way, (but at the same time) nobody wants to see America exploited and crushed and possibly fall into chaos,” he said.
Diaz urged Canada to intervene and work with other “friends” of Cuba to help its people.
Countries like Mexico have sent humanitarian aid, Diaz added, “saying ‘the Cuban people don’t deserve this. We need to help them.’ … I think this is a great example of what can be done.”
-via files from the Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
